Athletics
AMERICA’S LEE EVANS, 1968 OLYMPIC 400M CHAMPION, DIES IN NIGERIA
Lee Evans, the 1968 Olympic 400m champion and human rights activist, has died at age 74, according to USA Track and Field.
Evans suffered a stroke last week in Nigeria and was unconscious in a hospital there as of Sunday, according to the San Jose Mercury News.
Evans was 21 when he won the 400m at the Mexico City Games in 43.86 seconds, the first time somebody broke 44 in the event.
“I was so tired, I knew I did something I’ve never done before,” Evans told NBC Sports for the film “1968” on those Olympics. “I wasn’t sure I won. Nobody told me I won, so they said, ‘Lee, you son of a gun.’ I said, ‘Who won? Who won?’”
He later anchored the U.S. 4x400m to gold in a world record. Both records stood for two decades.
Evans ran collegiately for San Jose State — “Speed City” — with Tommie Smith and John Carlos, 1968 Olympic teammates who took gold and bronze, respectively, in the 200m in Mexico City.
Evans was a founding member of the Olympic Project for Human Rights and one of the athletes to fight for racial justice before and during those Games.
He wanted to withdraw from the 400m final after Smith and Carlos were kicked out of the Olympics after raising black-gloved firsts on the medal stand. But Smith and Carlos convinced Evans to run, according to Olympedia.org.
Evans said an official warned the U.S. 400m runners before the final not do anything similar to Smith and Carlos. The official was worried the U.S. team would get kicked out of the Games.
Evans then led a U.S. medals sweep of the 400m with Larry James and Ron Freeman. All three wore black berets in support of the Black Panther Party for the victory ceremony. They removed them for the anthem, a decision Evans said was made before the Olympics given they still had the 4x400m relay to run.
“After what Tommie and John did, there was a lot of commotion,” Evans said in 2017. “We had meetings, and yelling, but it turns out, we stuck to our guns.”
Evans later coached and directed track and field programs for decades internationally.
-NBCsports
A record 6,000 runners, local and international from across the African continent and Nigeria have registered for the second edition of the Lotus Bank Abeokuta 10km Run slated for September 28, 2024, as the organisers, Nilayo Sports Management Limited guns for a bronze label status for the race.
The Chief Operating Officer of Nilayo Sports Management Limited, Ebidowie Oweifie, noted that the theme of this year’s edition of the Abeokuta 10km Race titled ‘For Greatness’ out is out to commemorate the birthday anniversary of the Egba paramount ruler, the Alake of Egbaland, Oba Adedotun Aremu Gbadebo 111, the 10km Run will flag off at Iyana Oloke at 6am and finish at The Alake Palace, Abeokuta.
Kenya’s Peter Nwaniki is the men’s race defending champion at a time of 28 minutes 14 seconds, while Shamila Kipsirir also of Kenya is the women’s defending champion.
Nigeria’s race men’s defending champion is Francis James at 31minutes 08seconds, while the women’s defending champion is Patience Daylop at 36 minutes 31 seconds.
The second edition of Abeokuta10km Race will be sponsored by Lotus Bank, FEBBS Premium Water, Fatgbems Petroleum Limited and Cash Token.
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan is the winner as the Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS has rejected the appeals filed by World Athletics and WADA.
The decision confirms the decision taken by the World Athletics disciplinary tribunal finding that Tobi Amusan did not commit any anti-doping rule violation.
Here is the full statement of CAS.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeals filed by
World Athletics (WA) and by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the decision issued on 17 August 2023 (the Challenged Decision) by the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal (WADT) in relation to the hurdler Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Amusan (Nigeria).
Accordingly, the Challenged Decision in which the WADT considered that Tobi Amusan did not violate Rule 2.4 of the WA Anti-Doping Rules (WA ADR) and that no period of ineligibility should be imposed on the Athlete is confirmed.
The Athlete was initially charged with committing an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under Rule 2.4 WA ADR following three alleged Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period.
In their respective appeal to CAS, WA and WADA had sought the imposition of a two-year period of ineligibility. The CAS Panel held a hearing on 19 January 2024. Having deliberated, the CAS Panel has issued its decision today dismissing both appeals. The CAS Panel unanimously acknowledged that the Athlete committed two filing failures but did not confirm the existence of a missed test, alleged by WA and WADA, which would have been the third Whereabouts Failure committed within a 12-month
period. Accordingly, the CAS Panel concluded that the Athlete did not commit an ADRV and that the Challenged Decision should be confirmed.
The reasoned award will be published by CAS unless the parties request confidentiality.
Nigeria’s Paris 2024 medal hopeful, Tobi Amusan has been cleared as the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the World Athletics.
She is therefore cleared to feature at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Amusan is the 100m hurdles world record holder.
The athlete was charged in July last year with missing three anti-doping tests in 12 months but was cleared of the offence by the Disciplinary Tribunal of the sport’s governing body, World Athletics.
The Integrity Unit of the World Athletics appealed the clearance which has now been dismissed by CAS, the final arbiter in the case.
CAS in its statement remarked that its panel “unanimously acknowledged that the athlete committed two filing failures but did not confirm the existence of a missed test, alleged by WA and WADA, which would have been the third Whereabouts Failure committed within 12 months.”
Amusan set the world record of 12.12 seconds in the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July 2022 and went on to win the title.
She finished sixth in the world championships in Budapest last year.
World Athletics’ anti-doping rules say any athlete failing to declare their whereabouts for a doping test on three occasions over 12 months is ineligible to compete for two years.
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