Third Nigerian athlete flunks dope test, stripped off her silver medals

NEW DELHI - Doping continues to haunt Nigerian athletes even after the closing ceremony of the XIX Commonwealth Games, as third runner from the country Folashade Abugan tested positive.

Abugan was stripped off her women’s 400m and 4×400m relay silver medals on Friday, as she tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid.

With this, the number of dope case has gone up to four with three of them being from Nigeria.

“Nigerian runner Folashade Abugan, returned an adverse analytical finding from a test conducted on October 8, 2010, after competing in the women’s 400 metre final,” said the Commonwealth Games Federation in a statement.

“Ms Abugan’s ‘A’ sample was found to demonstrate findings consistent with an exogenous origin of endogenous steroids.

The delta values indicate an application of testosterone prohormone, which is prohibited under the current WADA Prohibited List S1 Anabolic Agents,” the statement read.

Abugan admitted her guilt after refusing to have her B sample tested.

“Ms Abugan wrote to the CGF waiving her rights to have her ‘B’ sample analysed and a hearing, as provided for within the CGF Anti-Doping Standard (ADS). She also admitted liability,” the CGF statement said.

Abugan’s silver medal for the woman’s 400 metres will now be awarded to Aliann Tabitha Pompey of Guyana, with the bronze medal going to Christine Amertil of the Bahamas.

Earlier, Osayomi Oludamola was stripped of her gold medal in the 100 meters after testing positive for methylhexanamine, a banned stimulant.

Nigerian 110m hurdler Samuel Okon, who did not win a medal, also tested positive for the banned stimulant methylhexanamine. (ANI)