Many battles of Tobi Amusan

On that fateful Sunday, July 24, in the semi-final of the the World Athletics Championships, Amusan smashed the previous best of 12.20 seconds set by American Kendra Harrison in 2016 and became the first Nigeria’s world record holder in athletics.

She ran a blistering time of 12.12 seconds to win her semi-final race and set a new world record. A few hours later, she went a notch higher when she shocked the world in the finals by running a wind-aided 12.06 seconds to further cement her place in world athletics history.

Again, at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in the following month, Amusan successfully defended her title, winning her second consecutive gold medal in the 100m hurdles with a new Games record of 12.30 seconds. She also helped Nigeria’s women’s 4 × 100m relay team to a gold medal.

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She wrapped up her long and successful 2022 campaign by winning the 100m hurdles at the Zürich Diamond League final event with a 12.29-second performance to retain her title. She finished ahead of Tia Jones, Britany Anderson, and Camacho-Quinn, setting a new meet record in the process.

Amusan became the first and only Nigerian to be crowned African, Commonwealth, and World champion in the same year.

She continued soaring in 2023 and on 16 July 2023, Amusan clocked a new season best of 12.34 seconds in the 100m Hurdles at the Silesia Diamond League meet. But with success comes battles and Amusan is not left out. She is having her portion.

Amusan’s first battle was at the homefront when her parent opposed her choice of sports as a career. She once confessed that: “My parents are both teachers. They are strict disciplinarians. When you grow up in such a family, they feel you should focus on school. And being a female, they think you are going to go astray, lose focus, and all of that.

“But because my mum saw what I didn’t see (in) myself, she felt she could give me a chance. And she kept telling me not to disappoint her.

“My mum would tell my dad I was going to church while I sneaked to practice or tell him I was going to a school debate while I went to an out-of-state competition. That’s where it all started.

“My dad got really mad one time when he found out (I was running). He burnt all my training gear and told my mum that’s the last time he wanted to see me in a stadium,” Amusan told BBC Sport Africa.

However, her dad’s hard stance softened eventually when she began to make strides that showed clearly that she was heading to the top in the world of athletics.

After winning this battle to begin her rise to stardom, she clocked a new season best of 12.34 seconds in the 100m Hurdles at the Silesia Diamond league. However, Amusan was charged with missing three anti-doping controls and the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) handed the Nigerian superstar a provisional suspension.

“The AIU confirms that it has today (19, July 2023) charged and provisionally suspended Tobi Amusan (NGR) for 3 Whereabouts Failures,” a statement by the AIU read in part.

Amusan immediately went to X, formerly known as Twitter, to declare herself “a clean athlete” and vowed to challenge the allegations. Amusan also said she was “tested within days” of her third alleged missed test.

“Today, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has charged me with an alleged rule violation for having three missed tests in 12 months,” the athlete had written. I intend to fight this charge and will have my case decided by a tribunal of 3 arbitrators before the start of next month’s World Championships.”

The anti-doping body said Amusan’s charge will be heard by the disciplinary tribunal and determined before the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Hungary.

According to the AIU, an athlete who misses tests within a period of 12 months is guilty of anti-doping rule violation, and the penalty includes suspension for two years, which may be reduced to a minimum of one year depending on the degree of fault.

Ahead of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August 2023, there were reports that the athlete had been cleared to compete but the body quickly cleared the air.

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) had excluded her name from the competition as a result of the doping investigation she was undergoing. But the AFN later included her name in the world athletics championship list, leading to reports that she had been cleared.

But in a statement, the world’s athletics body said it had not cleared the Nigerian star for the competition. “Please be advised – reports that say Tobi Amusan has been cleared to compete in Budapest are wrong,” Nicole Jeffery, World Athletics’ Head of Communications, said in the statement.

“No decision has been made in this case yet. When a decision is made, it will be announced by the Athletics Integrity Unit.”

As if that was not enough psychological trauma to deal with, Amusan was also battling to contend with the negative reports coming out of the sporting media in Nigeria and some Nigerians were fast to offer the drowning athlete solace.

A Nigerian public analyst, JJ. Omojuwa @Omojuwa wrote on X: “shocking how some in the Nigerian media framed the news of Tobi Amusan’s “missed tests” against her. It’s not enough to deal with the usual number of requests for tests and other barriers abroad, she must also endure the hurdle of her home media. Tragic and sad”.

Also, uncle Deji @DejiAdesogan wrote; “fact is Tobi Amusan wasn’t charged with “anti-doping violation”, she was charged for missing a few tests within a year, and she already addressed the issue. So why’s the Media deliberately misleading people on our African Queen of Track”?

According to POOJA @PoojaMedia “Tobi Amusan just needs to work on her schedule with her team & get the doping calendar fixed. She is so focused on her training & competitions because her teams need to work on other schedules & activities. 3 Nigerian athletes are already banned, we can’t afford to have it mixed up with her”.

For Alan Moore @DangerKidsBooks “skipping at least 3 tests in a 12 month period, can happen, we’re all fallible”.

Daniel Regha @DanielRegha wrote “Tobi Amusan wasn’t charged with “anti-doping violation”, she was charged for missing a few tests within a year, but she already addressed the issue. Pls let’s be mindful of how news is headlined so people don’t spread misinformation. Hopefully, the issue gets resolved.”

The issue was resolved two days before the World Athletics Championships in Budapest with the panel clearing her of any wrongdoing but the effect on the Nigerian star was so significant that it reflected in her performance.

Amusan lost the 100 metres hurdle race, finishing sixth in 12.62s in the final and failing to defend her World Champion title. Jamaican Danielle Williams won the title in a season-best of 12.43s and Olympic champion, Puerto Rico’s Jasmine Camacho-Quinn came second in 12.44s. United States American Kendra Harrison came third in 12.46s

The loss has compelled her to miss out on the chance of becoming the fourth woman after USA’s duo of Gail Devers and Michelle Perry, and Australian Sally Pearson, to claim at least two gold medals in the women’s 100m Hurdles at the World Championships. She consequently dropped in ranking, sliding from 25th to 33rd in the women’s overall weekly rankings recently released by World Athletics.

However, weeks after failing to defend her World title Amusan was back on a winning streak. With a 12:33 seconds record, the Nigerian athlete won her third consecutive Diamond League title in the Women’s 100 metres hurdle. Amusan won her first Diamond League trophy in 2021 in 12.42 seconds and defended the title last year. She goes into history as the second woman in Diamond League history after Dawn Nelson-Harper to win a hat-trick of 100m hurdles titles.

Her fans thought she had overcome her battles and was now set to continue smatching records but a few days after, AIU dragged her to the Court of Arbitration for Sports. “The AIU filed an appeal last Friday (15 September 2023) with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the Disciplinary Tribunal’s decision, dated 17 August 2023, that Tobi Amusan did not commit an anti-doping rule violation for Whereabouts Failures,” the body wrote on X.

This implies that the AIU does not trust the judgement of the Disciplinary Tribunal and wants another hearing at CAS and this is coming just after Amusan claimed her third consecutive Diamond League trophy on Sunday.

The AIU had expressed its disappointment with the verdict and vowed to review the reasoning in detail before deciding whether to exercise its right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within the applicable 30-day deadline, which expired on Saturday.

AIU Head, Brett Clothier, also indicated the Monaco-based body would appeal the decision, which was corroborated by AIU’s David Howman who told reporters at the last World Athletics Championships in Budapest: “We have some concern that it might set a precedent, which will be difficult for future.”

Amusan had won two major battles in her journey to stardom but the one million-dollar question is; will she survive this one?