US-based
Nigerian weightlifter has said she relocated to America after a
national coach tried severally to sleep with her before she could be
allowed to represent the country.
Gloria Moses
A Nigerian weightlifter, Gloria Moses, who had won three gold at
the Rivers 2011 National Sports Festival, and later relocated to the
United States late last year, has revealed how a national coach tried
severally to sleep with her before she could be allowed to represent the
country.
The US-based Nigerian claimed that after she refused the coach’s
sexual overtures, she was framed up for drugs usage and was dropped from
national camp in 2013, while preparing for a championship in Malaysia.
She said; “They said I tested positive (for drugs) in 2013. If
they didn’t throw me out of camp and tried to frustrate me, I would have
been an Olympian today. Why did they do all these? Because Gloria Moses
is a stubborn lifter who won’t sleep with her coach.
“They said I tested positive. But after the dope test I had, a
letter should have been sent to my state (Bayelsa) and another to me.
But I didn’t get a copy of the result of the dope test and I requested
for but nobody gave me any till now. The frustration was too much;
that’s why I had to leave for America.
“In Nigeria, the coaches drop better female weightlifters for
those that give them what they want. I’m okay with what they made me
pass through; it was a challenge and it made me stronger.”
According to Punch, Moses, an orphan, added that the frustration
that came with her expulsion from national camp almost made her commit
suicide in Lagos.
“I was targeting gold (in Malaysia) in the snatch and jack
events because I was in-form but the coach frustrated me, denied me the
opportunity. I would have made some money if I won. Thereafter, I
couldn’t pay my rent; and there was nobody to help me. If I had parents,
they would have fought for me, but I had no one.
“Some male friends who knew my plight came to me and said, ‘let
me give you N1,000 and sleep with you.’ I told them to go and die. I
was helping some women at Shitta (in Lagos) to sell local herbs. They
would give me food and I would hang on a bus to get home. At a time, I
almost drank poison, but my fiance held me back. If not for him, I would
have been dead by now.”
She said despite her ordeal at the hands of her coach, she would continue to represent Nigeria if given the opportunity.
“I will not change my nationality, I will look for a way and
compete again and prove all of them wrong. I love the game and Nigeria
is my country. We have bad leaders but it doesn’t mean we have to
abandon our country. Someone has to make things happen.”
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