2nd August, 2014
Nigerian teenage weightlifter Chika Amalaha was stripped of her Commonwealth women’s 53kg gold medal on Friday after failing a drugs test, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) announced.
The 16-year old became the youngest female to win a weightlifting gold on July 25, when she also set a new Games record of 196kg to see off the challenge of Dika Toua of Papua New Guinea.
However, four days after the win, the CGF announced that Amalaha had been provisionally suspended “after returning an adverse analytical finding from an in-competition test on July 25”.
The athlete’s A sample was found to contain both amiloride and hydrochlorothiazide, both prohibited as diuretics and masking agents.
The CGF said in a statement: “The Commonwealth Games Federation has determined that Nigerian weightlifter, Chika Amalaha has committed an anti-doping rule violation and has fully suspended her from the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
“As a result, Amalaha has been disqualified from her event at the Games, with her result in the competition nullified.”
The gold medal will now go to Toua while Indian duo, Santoshi Matsa and Swati Singh take the silver and bronze respectively.