Nigeria’s men’s 4x400m relay team has been disqualified from the final at the Paris Olympic Games.
The quartet of Emmanuel Ojeli, Ezekiel Nathaniel, Dubem Amene, and Chidi Okezie finished heat 2 with a season’s best time of 2 minutes 59.81 seconds.
France won the race with a time of 2 minutes 59.53 seconds, while Belgium secured the third automatic qualifying spot with a time of 2 minutes 59.84 seconds.
It was, however, adjudged that one of the Nigerian runners crossed lanes and that led to the tripping of a South African runner.
The spot won by Nigeria has been given to South Africa.
The Nigeria athletes are looking to emulate the 1984, 2000 and 2004 teams who won bronze, gold and bronze in the Los Angeles, Sydney and Athens editions of the games.