Divine Oduduru’s suspension by AIU brings an end to a promising career that failed to move past first gear 

This is Deji Ogeyingbo’s feature on the sad news on the Divine Oduduru’s provisional suspension by AIU. 

Divine Oduduru’s suspension by AIU brings an end to a promising career that failed to move past first gear 

The butterfly effect. It’s a phenomenon that small, seemingly trivial events may ultimately result in something with much larger consequences – in other words, they have non-linear impacts on very complex systems. For instance, when a butterfly flaps its wings in Bangladesh, that tiny change in air pressure could eventually cause a tornado in Iowa.

What has this got to do with Nigerian sprinter, Divine Oduduru? Well for starters, the Nigerian sprinter was provisionally suspended and notified of two potential Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) who said on Thursday they are seeking a six-year ban.

This pretty much brings an end to a career that showed one of the biggest promises by any Nigerian or African sprinter. The story of how it all unraveled for Oduduru is even as much intriguing as where he was predicted to get to. Where did it all go wrong? What poor choices did he make? Who were his advisors and did he really care about the sport or he was in it to make money?

In what surely is a short-lived career, Oduduru will be remembered for some monumental events in his career. Three stand out. His “I never expected it” comments at the World Youth Championships in Donetsk in 2013, matching Usain Bolt stride for stride during the heat of the men’s 200m race at the Rio 2016 Olympics and the NCAA Championships double winning exploits in 2019. All of these have come crumbling down. 

The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act and the Athletics Integrity Unit

The butterfly effect that untwined Oduduru’s career started in 2014 after Russia’s plot to undermine athletics by systematically doping in advance of the 2014 Olympics in Sochi took place. Grigory Rodchenkov, the former head of Russia’s national anti-doping laboratory exposed the country’s doping program to the New York times. He has been living in hiding since coming forward as a whistleblower about the Russian scheme.

It was against that backdrop that the IAAF, now World athletics set up an independent Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which sits at the heart of the IAAF’s integrity reforms, and officially began operating on Monday 3 April 2017.

It didn’t stop there. On the 5^th of December 2020, a bill that will…