The Nigeria Olympics Committee has handed the branded Samsung phones to the 10 disqualified Nigerian athletes at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, The PUNCH has learnt.
The Athletics Integrity Unit on Wednesday disqualified 10 Nigerian athletes from taking part in the track and field events of the 2020 Olympics, following failure to meet anti-doping requirements.
The 10 athletes were declared ineligible after they failed to conduct the mandatory three out-of-competition tests.
The PUNCH had reported on Friday that the athletes were not given the Samsung Galaxy S21 phones given to all participating athletes at the Olympics as souvenirs.
But while clarifying the situation on Friday, the NOC, in a statement, said the athletes had been given the phones after approval was sought from the International Olympics Committee.
According to the NOC spokesman, Femi Adetula, the terms and conditions for the phones stated that any athlete excluded from the Games would have to return the phone to the IOC.
The NOC however said waivers were gotten for the Nigerian athletes to get their phones.
According to the NOC, the ineligible athletes were given their phones after the approval was given to that effect.
“The International Olympic Committee has finally granted the request of Team Nigeria for her 10 athletes who were declared ineligible to partake in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics to receive Samsung Galaxy S21 5G given to all athletes who qualified and are resident at the Olympic Village,” the NOC said in a statement on Friday.
“Regarding your athletes that will not participate in competitions in Tokyo, in light of the latest information received, I confirm that you can still go ahead and give phones to the athletes,” the NOC statement quoted Junior Project Manager, National Olympics Committee Relations/ National Olympics Committee Services, Jonas Brun, as saying.
