Tokyo Olympics: Nigeria’s Enekwechi who washed own jersey loses in shot put final

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi on Thursday failed to impress in the final of the men’s shot put event at the ongoing 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The 28-year-old who threw 21.28 metres to win the 2019 African Games gold in Rabat could only record a throw of 19.74 to place last on Thursday in the 12-man field.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ryan Crouser of the U.S. set a new Olympic record in the event with a throw of 23.30.

Crouser who is also the world record-holder with 23.37, set on June 18, erased his Olympic record of 22.52 set at the Rio Games in 2016.

His compatriot, Joe Kovacs, won the silver medal with 22.65 while Tomas Walsh of New Zealand won the bronze with a season best 22.47.

PREMIUM TIMES had reported how Enekwechi highlighted Nigeria’s poor preparation by posting a video where he was washing the ‘only’ jersey provided him by the Nigerian officials.

Enekwechi shared the video on his TikTok account @thechuksays.

According to his post, the athlete claimed he was given only one jersey for the tournament. He wrote: “When you made the Olympic Finals, but you only have one jersey.”

It is not clear why Enekwechi, a three-time national champion and two-time African champion, was given just one competition jersey or whether the sporting authorities never thought he would do well to make it to the final in his event.

(NAN)