US-based
Nigerian weightlifter Gloria Moses says she relocated to the United
States late last year after a national coach tried severally to sleep
with her before she could be allowed to represent the country.
Moses 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.
“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,” the athlete, who won three gold
at the Rivers 2011 National Sports Festival, said.
“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. ”
Moses, an orphan, added that the frustration that came with her
expulsion from national camp almost made her commit suicide in Lagos.
The 2009 NSF triple silver medallist added, “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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