All-Africa Games host Nigeria is coming under increasing pressure to return 11 gold medals won by its disabled athletes because it allegedly changed the eligibility rules to help its team.
Seven countries have petitioned the games organisers, alleging foul play, and South African delegation chief Gogo Manqoyi has said she will ask the organisers to revoke 11 of the 46 golds won by Nigeria up to Monday night.
On Tuesday, Dr Awoture Eleyae, the secretary general of the Supreme Council for Sport in Africa, complained in a letter to the games coordinator for special sports of the ”unwholesome and embarrassing alteration” of rules governing the awarding of medals at the games.
Eleyae noted that the Supreme Council agreed in the past three years that disabled athletes would not receive medals in events in which there were five or fewer competitors.
However, Nigeria claims the rules say a minimum of five nations, not competitors.
Eleyae called the rule change ”unethical” and ”against the spirit of the Games” and directed the organisers to ”strictly adhere to the technical rules for sport for the disabled for the eighth All-Africa Games”.
Nigeria Olympics spokesperson Tony Nezianya angrily denied any rules had been breached.
”As far as we are concerned the regulations say a minimum of five countries is required in a whole sport — not just a single event — before medals can be awarded,” he said.
”We want to state that no country has protested over Nigeria’s domination of the sport [special sports], just as Nigeria has never protested over any other country’s domination of any particular sport.” — Sapa-AP