Annette Echikunwoke won a silver medal in the women’s hammer throw at Paris 2024 for the United States. That medal she won could have been for her ancestral homeland, Nigeria.
She had initially opted to compete for Team Nigeria ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, but an administrative oversight by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) made that dream illusive. On Tuesday, she won a hammer Olympic medal as the first American woman to do so.
Born in Ohio, America, she holds dual American-Nigerian citizenship. She was set to represent Nigeria, her parents’ country, in Tokyo 2020. After arriving in the Japanese capital, officials did not allow her to compete, despite breaking the African record in qualification. Echikunwoke was heartbroken.
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“On my 25th birthday, I was officially informed that I cannot compete at the Tokyo Olympics due to the negligence of the federation I was set to compete for,” she said in a message posted on Instagram. “I can’t even begin to explain how heartbroken I am. This has been the most mentally and emotionally exhausting time of my life.”
A rule required athletes to undergo three out-of-competition tests within 10 months before a major event. However, the AFN failed to comply with the rule, even though she had provided her whereabouts to the AFN six times during that timeframe. She said Nigeria did not make arrangements to get her tested.
“The AFN bears responsibility for any lapses that may have occurred during the process,” a statement by the organization said, the BBC reported. “A few athletes in the American collegiate system were tested, but those tests were deemed not to have complied with World Anti-Doping Agency sample collection and analysis standards.”
Following the shattering of her dream to represent Nigeria, she decided that representing the country of her birth would be in her best interest and her career goals. She became an American athlete.
In her 2022 debut at the World Championships in Eugene, she finished 12th in the final. She became a surprise winner of the 2024 US Olympic trials, throwing a season’s best of 74.86 m.
She then bettered her trial record at the Stade de France on Tuesday evening, coming in second behind Canada’s Camryn Rogers with a mark of 75.48 m.
“I felt pretty secure coming into the competition. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime,” Echikunwoke said. “It’s electric – just being on the US team, being in the final, coming into the stadium, and hearing everyone [be] so loud. [To be] the first woman to medal (in hammer throw) for the US, it’s really an honor. It’s really vindication. I wanted the experience.”
