OGUNODE Femi

General
CHANGING NATIONALITY
He originally competed for Nigeria, the country of his birth, before moving to Qatar in 2009 and gaining citizenship to compete for his new country in 2010. He decided to change nationality after the Athletics Federation of Nigeria dropped him from the national team for major events, including the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He then received an email from Qatar. "They asked whether I was interested to do trials in Qatar. I wrote back saying I was, but that I didn't have money to make the trip. They requested a copy of my passport and soon I was attending trials in Doha. It turned out to be one of the best decisions I ever made in my life." (Facebook page, 10 Jul 2018; athletics-africa.com, 15 Oct 2014; makingofchampions.net, 19 May 2014)

SANCTION
He was banned for two years from January 2012 to January 2014 after testing positive for the banned substance clenbuterol. "To this day, I haven't understood how the drug clenbuterol got into my body. I had competed in the 2011 World Championships [in Daegu, Republic of Korea] in August and was clean. Suddenly, at the Arab Games in early December, I was caught for doping. If I didn't cheat during a mega event like the Worlds, why would I have even thought of doing so for a smaller event like the Arab Games? I don't have any answer. So I've stopped thinking about it now. My father taught me to take life's hardships head on. He gave me the strength. In the end, two years passed like two months." (dohastadiumplusqatar.com, 15 Oct 2014; gulfnews.com, 28 Sep 2014; thehindu.com, 20 May 2012)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
He is the founder and chief executive officer [CEO] of the Femi Seun Ogunode Foundation, a non profit organisation set up in 2015 to assist young aspiring athletes. (fsofoundation.org, 16 Oct 2017)