Annette Echikunwoke made headlines after winning a silver medal in the women’s hammer throw at the Paris Olympics.

The 28-year-old achieved a remarkable second place with a throw of 75.48m, just behind Canada’s Camryn Rodgers, who topped the podium with a throw of 76.97m.

While Echikunwoke’s performance at the Paris Games was impressive, attention has been diverted from his sporting exploits. Instead, most of the attention has been focused on his recent change of nationality from Nigeria to the United States.
According to ESPN Africa, Echikunwoke was initially expected to represent Nigeria at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. However, due to a failure of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), he missed out on competing for his country.

AFN negligence deprives Nigeria of Echikunwoke According to the report, Echikunwoke was supposed to represent Nigeria but was disqualified due to the failure of the Athletics Federation to arrange drug tests and communicate the need to ensure his location

A total of 10 Nigerian athletes scheduled to compete in 2021, a significant part of the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) delegation, have been disqualified due to the negligence of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria. The federation defends itself citing the fact that some American athletes have not informed the AFN of their location, although Echikunwoke is not specifically named.

The hammer thrower responded by explaining that the AFN requested his location for drug tests six times, and although he provided the information each time, no officer came to conduct the tests. Before switching allegiance to the United States, Echikunwoke was recognized as the best hammer thrower in Africa, according to data from worldathletics.org.