THE LONDON OLYMPICS 2012 --> OFFICIAL THREAD !!!

[folem]

Olympics shot put: Nadzeya Ostapchuk stripped of gold medal



Belarusian women's shot put gold medallist Nadzeya Ostapchuk has been stripped of her title after failing a doping test, the International Olympic Committee has announced.

Ostapchuk, 31, threw 21.36m with her third attempt to win in the Olympic Stadium last week.

But Ostapchuk has now been disqualified after officials said metenolone was found in a urine sample she provided.

New Zealand's Valerie Adams, who was second, has now been awarded gold.

An IOC statement said:"The athlete was first requested to provide a urine sample for a doping control on 5 August.

"She competed the next day in the women's shot put event, where she placed first, and was asked to provide a sample straight after her competition.

"Both samples indicated the presence of metenolone, which is classified as anabolic agent under the 2012 prohibited list."

Ostapchuk won gold at the 2010 European Championships, but was second to Adams at the 2011 World Championships.

London 2012 saw the biggest anti-doping operation in the history of the Olympic Games.

Before the start of the Olympics, those competing were warned that 150 scientists were set to take 6,000 samples between now and the end of the Paralympic Games.

Every competitor who won a medal at the Olympics was tested.

British discus thrower Brett Morse apologised to his Twitter followers after accusing Ostapchuk of doping last week.

Morse made the claim after he failed to qualify for the Olympics discus final and also tweeted: "I've had a bad day but it could be worse, I could look like Ostaptchuk [sic]."

[Riversboy]

They should test the first 7 at the women's 100m

RB.

[Cellular]

Well anoda GEJ production...

[The YeyeMan]

Reminds me of Kolo Toure.

[kash n' karry]

Olympic Games: Why Nigeria failed
London Olympics Tuesday, August 14, 2012

… Athletes, officials blame Sports Ministry, FG

By Onochie Anibeze reporting from London

Truly, Bolaji Abdullahi was appointed sports minister and chairman of the National Sports Commission a few months to the Olympic Games and there was nothing much he could have done to change the impending doom then that has now manifested at the 2012 London Olympic Games that ended Sunday night with a closing ceremony that was a music JAM.

But the little the minister could do was consumed in his preference to plunge into the dirty football politics at the time than double effort to prepare the Nigerian team for the Olympics. Unfortunately, the ministry dragged him into it and because of the popularity of football in Nigeria he savoured the exposure and visibility the lingering but orchestrated crisis of Nigerian football attracted to him.

That was at the expense of tackling few issues with our Olympic preparation. There were issues with funding and technical problems with the teams that Nigeria would present. But the minister was busy with football that did not qualify for the Olympics. He meant well but he was misguided.

Some officials re-echoed the minister's early romance with football as part of what affected Nigeria's preparation but, in the main, blamed it on the now tradition of not developing sports but just engaging in competitions. Some athletes also bared their minds. For the avoidance of victimisation they preferred not to have their names on print.

Said one Nigerian official here: "The minister came into office and rather than face our preparation for the Olympics the ministry lured him into football politics and the money that would have been spent on our preparation was spent on trips to Zurich, the FIFA headquarters.

Time and energy were spent too on a problem they all later found out to be the creation of officials of the sports ministry who simply wanted their candidate in the NFF"

Another official put his this way: "The Federal Government is to blame. They are not yet ready to take sports seriously. They don't fund sports well and when it comes to the games like the Olympics they expect results. Until they start funding sports well, the failure that we have experienced here will continue."

One senior official who is a member of international body accused the federal government of aiding corruption by always releasing money late for preparations during which the money is misappropriated.

"When you make a budget for preparation and include about three training tours but money is released late you cannot embark on those tours again and the preparation is affected. This has been our story for a long time. It just didn't start now. This makes the pockets of ministry officials fat but affects our preparation. N2.3 billion was released for the London Olympics and a huge part of it was surely not spent on the athletes or our participation here. It happened before and it is happening now, so it is not only about people who are in the ministry now. It is about our faulty system."

An athlete is thinking of changing nationality. Said she: "I am not sure I will compete for Nigeria again. They will not help you and they expect so much from you. I know how other countries who are winning gold here helped their athletes to prepare. All the things they promised us in the last Olympics have not been fulfilled. We will continue to fail until we change and since change is not possible now it is better for me to change. Haven't you seen that the Nigerians competing for other countries are doing well?."

Another athlete said that it is only at the time of competition that Nigeria tries to engage the athletes, adding that "it is always too late to do something meaningful."

A sports association technical official spoke from experience: "I know the age of my athlete. But don't be surprised that by the next Olympics they will ask him to get ready for the Olympics because they are not developing any other person to take over from him. There's no development programme, no money, no programme to develop talents. So, how can we do well in sports? Why do we have the sports ministry?."