Maputo 2011: Iworima’s Gold Withdrawn, Event to Be Repeated
13 Sep 2011
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Otonye Iworima


By Duro Ikhazuagbe

The organisers of the 10th All Africa Games have withdrawn the gold medal awarded to Otonye Iworima in the women triple jump event following the protest filed by Algeria.

According to the organisers, the event is to be repeated on September 15, the final day of the track and field at the on-going Games in Maputo.
Insiders at the Games revealed Monday night that the protest of the Algerians was upheld to allow for fairness when it became certain that there were irregularities in the recordings made for the jumpers.

Algeria's Baya Rahouli, who was 8th at the World Championships in Daegu, was the favourite for the gold but discovered that proceedings were been tainted.

“After she fouled her first two attempts, she asked to have a look at the results sheet and saw a 14.47m marked for one of the participants (Otonye). She became livid with shock as none of the competitors had jumped enough to have such a score. She then asked her coach to find out which athlete indeed achieved such a performance.

“Even Iworima, who was the de facto leading jumper, explained to the judge she couldn’t realistically have jumped that far. But the judges didn't listen to her. One of the judges even told her: "Yes you did 14.47m, you just forgot," revealed the source Monday night.

It was on the basis of this mixed up that the AAC, the African athletics body, decided that for fairness, that the event be repeated on Thursday. With that, Iworima’s gold and the new national record got nullified.