Blessing Okagbare banned from participating at Rio 2016 Olympics

Nigerian sprinter and Commonwealth queen of tracks, Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor, has been banned by the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), following her appearance at the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday, a few days after she failed to run for Nigeria in the 200m event at the just concluded IAAF World Championship in Beijing, China.

Guardian reports that Okagbare was Team Nigeria’s medal hope at the IAAF Championship in Beijing but she fumbled in the 100m final, finishing last, and also failed to show up for the 200m event four days later, despite appearing in the warm up area. She claimed injury and while some Nigerians were yet to come to terms on what transpired in Beijing, there was a shocker a few days ago, when Okagbare announced she will not be representing Team Nigeria for the 11th All Africa Games in Congo, an action which AFN and NSC finds unpatriotic.