The Olympics dream of Grace Nwokocha, on hold as Paris 2024 beckons

Posted : 26 October 2023

The story of Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha, born on April 7, 2001, is not so different from other Nigerian athletes; however, her never-say-die attitude is a virtue worth reckoning with.

Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha rose to stardom early enough as she earned a reputation that has made her a multiple-time national champion in the 100 meters.

Although things took a turn for the worse when she was convicted of using a banned substance following a doping violation at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, which led to Nigeria being stripped of the gold medal in the 4x100m relay.

Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha's road to stardom blossomed in 2021 when she posted a new personal best time in the 100m of 11.09 and, in the process, became the first Nigerian athlete to qualify for the postponed 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She also won the 100m at the National Sports Festival in Benin.

At the Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 meters, she ran a new personal best time of 11.00 seconds in her heat to qualify for the semi-finals.

In 2022, she finished sixth in the final of the NCAA championship in both the 100 meters and the 200 meters. She participated in both the 100m and the 200m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships, reaching the semi-finals in both events, and won the Nigerian National Championships in the 100 meters.

On September 3, 2022, she was provisionally suspended for the use of banned substances, Ostarine and Ligandrol, by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

In her ordeal, Grace Nwokocha pleaded for a fair hearing of her case and advised the media not to complicate her situation.

Nwokocha had run in three races during the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

As a result of her positive test, Nigeria was also stripped of the 4x100 meters relay gold medal that she won alongside Tobi Amusan, Rosemary Chukwuma, and Favour Ofili at the Games.

According to her claim, she unknowingly ingested a prohibited substance in a contaminated product on August 1, 2022.

The facts are that, having taken a break in her training, Grace Nwokocha took a drink from her bottle of Lucozade that she kept in her bag as a precaution.

"Her practice is to generally assess the level of the liquid in the bottle to try and detect if others had drunk from it. The bottle was a transparent one with a Lucozade label wrapped around it, covering part of the bottle, making it difficult to assess the exact amount of liquid within the bottle.

"She then drank from the bottle of Lucozade but immediately realized that the level was lower than she suspected, and she took it from her mouth. By this time, she had ingested a small amount. On further consideration, the level indicated to her that another athlete had drunk from the bottle (without her permission).

"She concluded that this was her colleague, who had done so on a previous occasion. Grace Nwokocha stopped drinking from the bottle as soon as she suspected that another athlete had drunk from it without her permission.

"Thereafter, there were races on August 2 (Heats) and August 3 (for semi-final and Final), but no liquid was drunk by a third party from any drinks obtained by Grace Nwokocha.

"Accordingly, the inadvertent ingestion of a contaminated product occurred on August 1, 2022, in the Commonwealth Village. She was tested on August 3, 2022, which returned an adverse analytical finding.

"Subsequently, Grace Nwokocha was tested again on August 7, 2022, and had a negative result. This demonstrates that, irrespective of the facts relating to the inadvertent ingestion of a contaminated product, there is good reason to question the accuracy of the test result on August 3, 2022," she emphasized.

The Olympics dream of Grace Nwokocha, on hold as Paris 2024 beckons

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