Vivian Chukwuemeka

Who is Vivian Chukwuemeka?

Vivian Chukwuemeka is a Nigerian shot putter and two-time Olympian. She won the gold medal in the shot put at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and has won three consecutive titles at the All-Africa Games from 1999 to 2007. She was the African Champion in the event in 2002, 2006 and 2008. She also competes in discus throw and hammer throw, but not on world level.

Her personal best throw is 18.43 metres, achieved in April 2003 in Walnut. This is the African record.

She competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics and the World Championships in 2003 and 2005 without reaching the finals. She won a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

She graduated from Azusa Pacific University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Social Work.

She received a two-year ban from athletics for a failed drug test at the 2009 Nigerian Championships. Chukwuemeka had an intense stand-off with the Athletics Federation of Nigeria. Her "B" sample had several clerical errors, including inconsistencies in bottle numbers and the meeting at which the sample was taken, and she was refused permission to have a representative present at the second testing in South Africa. She accused Nigerian doping officers of corruption and sexual harassment, as well as accusing the federation president Solomon Ogba of coercing Amaka Ogoegbunam to implicate her in drug distribution. Her claims were dismissed by the appeals panel and her two-year ban from the IAAF remained.