Barely four days before the athletics events of the ongoing 2016 Rio Olympics begin in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, a new report has emerged of how the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, denied a Nigerian athlete the chance to participate at the Games.

Monvazous Edwards, who is based in the US, was meant to make his debut appearance at the Olympics but would not be taking part at the Games because he wasn’t allegedly registered by the NOC.

The aggrieved athlete took to his Instagram page, @motivate_m.e, to share the mail that was sent to inform him of the development by Paul Hardy, IAAF Competition Director.

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On Sunday, he wrote, “I know. We never know how. We never know why. We just…live. There are certain things that happen that we are not in control of. Yet your destiny is your destiny. And sometimes we think certain things are our destiny that may turn out not to be. Apparently it wasn’t my destiny to be Olympic Champion… I thank each and everyone of your from the bottom of my heart for the love and support and most importantly for the prayers. Our prayers were answered. I got the phone call today from my agent first. Then this letter/email followed. Although I want to be mad and I have every right to be mad at my NOC for taking this moment away from me. I can’t be. They’re only human. Humans make mistakes. Sometime those mistakes are at the expense of others. We must always remember to show compassion and not anger. I will never know who dropped the ball. I will never know who lied about it. I will never care. All I know is this is just another obstacle in my life that I have to deal with and overcome. By far it’s one of the most hurting. Yet I will get through this like everything else and continue to persevere. Yet it saddens me to have to tell you guys….sorry….unfortunately I will not be running in Rio.”

Edwards, who was the 2000 American Junior champion in the 100m and 200m, was expected to represent Nigeria in the men’s 100m.

It was gathered that he made the standard qualification time by virtue of  a time of 10.16 he ran recently to qualify for the Olympics.

Edwards was said to have practiced, intensively, for months, and even got an Olympic tattoo, with the hopes of representing Nigeria at the Rio Olympics.

Monvazous began competing for Nigeria in 2014 at the Commonwealth Games and he was a bronze medalist at the African Championship that same year.

He has a personal record of 10.00s and 20.17s in 100m and 200m respectively.

WuzupNaija recalls that at the just concluded IAAF World Junior Championship in Poland, the Nigerian women sprint relay could not participate because they were not registered for the race.