.
.
US-based Nigerian weightlifter Gloria Moses says she relocated to the U.S 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.
.
.
“Why did they do all these? Because Gloria 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.
.
.
She added that: “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 was targeting gold (in Malaysia) 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. Crdt: Punchng
