A former Nigerian hammer thrower, Annette Echikunwoke, who holds the African record in the hammer throwing event, has won an Olympic medal for the United States in women’s hammer throw.
The 28-year-old threw a season’s best of 75.48 m to win silver for her adopted country, finishing behind Canada’s Camryn Rodgers, who threw 76.79 m.
Commenting on the feat, Washington Post quoted her as saying, “I’m happy it’s happening now. Everything happens for a reason, even if it’s bad or good or ugly. But this is beautiful.”
Echikunwoke missed out on competing in the hammer throw at the Tokyo 2021 Olympics due to a failure by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to conduct the required drug tests for athletes.
In an Instgram post in 2021, she wrote, “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.
“I can’t even begin to explain how heartbroken I am. It honestly feels like a fever dream. To think of all the hours of throwing sessions, hundreds of hard lifts, all the moments when my body aches in pain and reminding myself ‘it’ll be worth it’, just to keep pushing on, sacrificing time with loved ones… and all I’m left with is this sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. This has been the most mentally and emotionally exhausting time of my life.
“To be clear: The Federation of Nigeria did not go through the processes to set up proper testing for us athletes. They left us in the dark about this whole drug testing issue until the last minute, where we were left helpless. We cannot let anything like this happen again to athletes, devastating dreams and crushing opportunities.”
