A positive test for the banned substance at the out-of-competition doping control on Thursday provisionally suspended Nigerian lightweight boxer Cynthia Ogunsemilore from the Paris 2024 Olympics. The International Testing Agency announced Saturday that Ogunsemilore—bronze medallist at the 2022 Commonwealth Games and African Games champion—tested positive for furosemide, a diuretic listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list, in an out-of-competition doping control conducted on Thursday.
The ITA has already communicated the provisional suspension to Ogunsemilore, excluding her from competing, training, coaching, or any other activity during the Olympics. She was due to take on Taiwan’s Wu Shih Yi in a round of 16 bout on Tuesday.
It is a big blow to the Nigerian boxing team that has already suffered some shocks, after another Nigerian boxer that had qualified for the Olympics, Dolapo Omole, pulled out of the Games due to an injury. All of a sudden, Nigeria is left with just one medal hopeful in boxing—Adam Olaore.
She can still appeal the provisional suspension at the Court of Arbitration for Sport – Anti-Doping Division and even call for an analysis of her B-sample. The latest news has further reduced Nigeria’s boxing representation and kept a dark cloud on the nation’s boxing prospects at the Games.
The first preliminary round later today is billed to be the commencement of Olaore’s push for a medal when he confronts Aibeck Oralbay of Kazakhstan at 10:48 am. Boxing is one event where the nation has traditionally performed very well, although in recent times and editions it has dwindled. The last time that Nigeria won an Olympic medal in boxing was at the Atlanta 1996 Games.
