Michael Johnson might be getting all the sticks (and deservedly so), but there were journalists who actively hounded Tobi Amusan, writing articles that tried to discredit her. Even fellow athletes contributed to the level of scrutiny Tobi faced after that record. Because MJ had to even quote Cindy Ofili-Sember as saying in the mixed zone, "I thoroughly (thought) I was running slow..." when he doubted if the timer was accurate. She ran a British record of 12.50s, and then 12.38s in the final. Before that semis, her PB was 12.53s, so why would people think 0.03 was such a big leap? To journalists like Jonathan Gault and Cathal Dennehy - those ones wrote articles questioning the shoes she ran with, and were the first to amplify the AIU incident, thinking it would stick. I remember Jonathan even questioning if the wind gauge picked up midway in the race (semis). Cathal in Budapest, caused a scene in the mixed zone when he interrupted my interview with Tobi, asking her about the AIU suspension. It didn't end there, he wrote an article calling me "a fan with a smartphone," one for standing up to him, and also for using my voice as a Nigerian journalist to speak up for Tobi. Maybe he felt World Athletics shouldn't accredit me for subsequent World Champs. The witchhunt Tobi has faced is because she is Nigerian. I have seen her (African Games 2024) go through an arduous length to update her whereabouts, despite the then AFN Secretary (Rita Mosindi) sending an email of where all the Nigerian athletes can be found and their room numbers in Accra. There was an internet outage in Ghana for about 4days, but Tobi knowing what she had faced to clear her name in 2023, was driven for hours until she got stable network to update her portal. She couldn't rely solely on AFN's email, because if a system is out to get you, they won't stop until they do. Suddenly, 12.1s looks attainable because it's not a Nigerian running it now. I agree with you that the track community owe that girl an apology.... "let the apology be as loud as the doubt."
