NIJEL AMOS(28):BAD LUCK FOLLOWS HIM IN BIG OCCASIONS

BY: Katlego Mechidi

Even though Nijel Amos is a star athlete who has always excelled in high-tempo races and has numerous superb moments, it looks like bad luck always follows him when he is supposed to shine, he tends to be more unfortunate when it matters due to either physical ailments or mental ones.

Botswana`s 800m specialist, Nijel Amos is again in bad luck as he has been provisionally suspended ahead of the next week’s World Championships after testing positive for a banned metabolite according to the report by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).

The Athletic Integrity said through a statement that they collected a sample from Amos during an out-of-competition on the 4^th of June.

• Nijel Amos badluck dates back from 2015
• In 2019 and 2021 the star also was struck by badluck
• Amos remains Botswana`s jewel

“WADA accredited laboratory that analyzed the sample notified the AUI of the adverse analytical finding on Tuesday. Amos was notified of the adverse analytical finding and his mandatory provisional suspension yesterday in Eugene,” the statement recites.

One will say it is bad luck, Amos was supposed to compete in the men’s 800m heats at the World Championships on July 20.

 

AMOS BAD LUCK CAN BE TRACED BACK FROM 2015

The 28-year-old’s bad luck comes from a long way back during the 2015 World Championships where he failed to make it to the semi-finals clocking 1:47:36 having run 1:42:66 a month before.

In the 2017 World Championships final he finished fifth in 1:45:86 having run 1:43:18 a month before. The following year in the 2018 Commonwealth Games final he finished eighth in 1:48:45 and went on to clock 1:42:14 three months later.

 

AMOS WITHDREW AT 2019 WORLD ATHLETICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

He went on to withdraw from the 2019 World Championships with an Achilles problem having ran an impressive 1:41:89 two months before.

The Marobela-born sprinter ran a time of 1:50:46 at the 2016 Rio Olympics being unable to get out of his qualifying heat despite having ran 1:44:66 three weeks before.

Some of Amos’s setbacks was during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics when what was supposed to be a historic moment of ululations turned into a moment of tears for Batswana as he faded away just at the edge of finishing in a podium position in Tokyo 2020 much heated 800m final finishing eighth out of nine athletes.

The 800m specialist who is the country’s first-ever Olympic medalist was surely a first gold medal hopeful for Botswana at the Tokyo 2020 after going all the way from the heats impressively to the finals which gave much hope for Batswana to believe that surely this time around, he will deliver fruitfully.

One of the big factors which poured loads of hope into Amos winning gold is that just 25 days before the Olympics, the 27-year marvel from Marobela ran a world-leading time of 1.42.91 in 800m, winning the Monaco Diamond League race which officially made him the fastest man of the year in 800m.

AMOS BAD LUCK CONTINUED AT TOKYO 2020 OLYMPICS

Secondly, the expectation of a gold medal from Amos was not misplaced and the sole reason is that the final was without the World’s 800m record holder, David Rudisha who has always been his tough opponent since his debut in athletics.

World Championships is to be held in the Oregon United States of America where Amos is currently based, it was a chance for him to shine in his new home but unfortunately, he will not be taking it.

Luckily age is still in his favor as he still has more than two Olympics and some major championships to compete in which provide renewed hope that he could still perform to a higher peak and land gold at the athletics biggest stages which are highly likely to happen because he will be coming with a bunch of experience from the previous major competitions where he was lured by bad luck and performed poorly.

Amos has over the years proved that he is the one to reckon with in 800m and he will surely bounce back to prove that he is the king of the game with the next attention now turning to the next Olympics to be held in Paris, France.