“Village People at Work”: Nigeria Disqualified After Earlier Qualifying for Men’s 4x400m Final

• Team Nigeria will not compete in the final of the Men's 4x400 event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
• A quartet of Emmanuel Ojeli, Ezekiel Nathaniel, Dubem Amene, and Chidi Okezie ran a season’s best 2:59.81s to finish 2nd in their semifinal heat
• They were, however, disqualified by the officials after one of the athletes was adjudged to have stepped out of the line

The quartet of Emmanuel Ojeli, Ezekiel Nathaniel, Dubem Amene, and Chidi Okezie have been disqualified from participating in the 4x400m event at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The athletes ran a season’s best 2:59.81s to finish 2nd in their semifinal heat. Team Nigeria's Men's 4x400 meters team was disqualified for infringing on lane lines.

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France won the race in 2:59.53s, with Belgium taking the 3rd automatic spot in 2:59.84.

The Nigerian team thought they would be able to emulate the 2000 and 2004 teams who won gold and silver in Sydney and Athens, respectively.

It is the first time in 24 years that a Nigerian 4x400m team will run sub 3mins. The last time was at Sydney Olympics, with Nigeria going on to win gold medal.

After two weeks, no single medal for Africa's most populous nation, and there is little hope in sight, Vanguard reports.

Recall that the Super Falcons and D'Tigress have also crashed out of the summer games.

Meanwhile, Nigerians have continued to react to the Men's 4x400m event disqualification.

Nzube Ray wrote on X:

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"Village people at work."

@KelvinAmata said:

"Hope for Tobi Amusan to compete in the final of 100m hurdles. See the video of the athlete who came third stepping out of her lane before crossing the finish line. Our 4x400m team was disqualified for this same thing!"

@Unreal_Kev posited:

"South Africa have qualified (at the discretion of the referee) to the final because they were impeded by one of the Spanish athletes — and fell, just after a baton exchange. Nothing to do with Nigeria being disqualified."

Amusan fails to impress

Legit.ng earlier reported that Tobi Amusan will not compete in the Women's 100m Hurdles semifinal at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

The current world champion and world record holder finished 3rd in her semifinal heat with a time of 12.55s, which was not enough to earn her one of the two non-automatic spots for the final.

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She came behind United States’ Alayasha Johnson, who had a record of 12:39 seconds and Bahmas’ Devynne Charlton, with a record of 12:50 seconds.

Source: Legit.ng