Why did Annette Echikunwoke switch nationality from Nigeria to USA? Everything about the hammer thrower's journey who won silver at Paris Olympics

By Soumik Bhattacharya

Modified Aug 07, 2024 15:26 GMT

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2024 Paris Olympics silver medalist Annette Echikunwoke's decision to move from Nigeria to the United States was not based on her personal choice but due to the immense negligence she faced from the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) that cost her participation at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

In 2021, Echikunwoke was all set to compete for Nigeria at the quadrennial event and even qualified for the Nigerian Olympic team. However, Echikunwok, along with the other nine Nigerian athletes, were deemed ineligible for the event after AFN failed to conduct the mandatory doping tests.

According to the anti-doping rules, all Nigerian athletes had to go through three out-of-competition anti-doping tests within ten months of the start of the competition. These rules were not abided by the AFN leading to the disqualification of these nine Nigerian athletes including Annette Echikunwoke.

Following her exclusion from the Tokyo Olympics squad, Echikunwoke took to her Instagram handle to lash out at the Athletics Federation of Nigeria. She stated:

"On my 25th birthday, I was officially informed that I cannot compete at the Tokyo 2020ne Olympics due to the negligence of the federation I was set to compete for. The African Federation of Nigeria (AFN) 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."

Owing to this negligence from the AFN, Echikunwoke switched her nationality from Nigeria to the United States of America allowing her to represent her country of birth in international tournaments such as World Championships and Olympics.

She started competing for the US national team in 2022 and was also a part of the team that competed at the World Championships that year.

Annette Echikunwoke clinches the first Olympic medal of her career in Paris

Annette Echikunwoke at the 2024 Paris Olympics (Image via Getty)

Competing in the first Olympic of her career, Annette Echikunwoke clinched a silver medal in the Women's Hammer Throw event on Tuesday (August 6).

Following a second-place finish in the group stages of the event the Ohio native continued her good momentum and registered a throw of 75.48m in her third attempt to give the United States its first-ever Olympic medal in the women's hammer throw event.

She was just behind Canada's Camryn Rogers who clinched the gold medal with a throw of 76.97m while China's Zhao Jie clinched the bronze medal with a throw of 74.27m.