Glasgow Commonwealth Games: Team Nigeria finishes with 11 Gold Medals
Opeyemi Oladunjoye
Nigeria finish eighth on the Glasgow Commonwealth Games medals table on Saturday after winning 11 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze medals.
The Minister of Sports, Dr. Tammy Danagogo, praised the athletes’ efforts, especially that of Blessing Okagbare, who won two Gold 
and a silver and set a new Commonwealth record for the 100m relay.
Okagbare became the first Nigerian and the 11th woman ever to finish first in both the 100m and 200m relays. She was only denied a treble by the Jamaican quartet in the women’s 4X100m final.
Danagogo said: “Okagbare has shown that with determination you can achieve your dream in whatever endeavour you set out for yourself. She has been consistent over the years and has remained focused despite missing the ultimate medal in some competitions before now.
“I want to congratulate the other medalists for their effort and hope that they will build on their successes in Glasgow for future competitions especially as we begin preparations for the 2016 Olympic Games.”
The Minister also expressed his disappointment after 16-year-old Chika Amalaha was stripped of her gold medal for failing a doping test.
“My heart bleeds for this 16-year-old girl,” he said. “She looks too innocent to commit such an offence. She is naive. We must get to the root of this. The coaches and our anti-doping officials have questions to answer. Why didn’t they do their jobs before coming here to disgrace Nigeria?”
He continued, “It’s disappointing that we have highly placed anti-doping officials who did not do their jobs. It is embarrassing and severe punishments will be meted out to those officials either for their involvement or negligence, as a deterrent.”
England finished first on the table on Day 10 with 56 gold and 165 medals. Australia continued to trail in second place with 45 gold and 132 medals while third-place Canada had 31 gold and 81 medals. Hosts Scotland are in fourth place with 19 gold and 52 medals.
South Africa leads African countries with 13 gold and 39 medals to stand at d seventh spot while Kenya is in Ninth place with 10 gold and 25 medals.
