By Victor Kanayo
Nigeria’s women 4x100m relay team at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games have been stripped of their gold medal following the disqualification of Grace Nwokocha.
This was disclosed via Birmingham website.
She was found guilty of doping by the Commonwealth Games Federation Court.
England have now been promoted to first place, followed by Jamaica and Australia.
Nwokocha had run the anchor leg as Nigeria crossed the finish line 0.21 seconds ahead of England in a thrilling race at Alexander Stadium on August 7, setting a new African record of 42.10s.
She was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) the following month, for the use of banned anabolic steroids ostarine and ligandrol following a sample taken at Birmingham 2022. Ostarine and ligandrol are both non-Specified Substances, listed by name under section S1.2 (Other Anabolic Agents) in the WADA 2022 Prohibited List.
The Commonwealth Games Federation Court heard Nwokocha’s case in May where her assertion that “a fellow member of the Nigerian team had drunk from her bottle of Lucozade, and thereby caused the adverse analytical finding (AAF)” was rejected.
The Federation Court disqualified her results from the women’s 100m, women’s 200m and the women’s 4x100m relay, with all resulting consequences, including forfeiture of any points and prizes.
