Gold medals are the pinnacle of achievement for the 26 Olympic sports contested at the Games . Athletes get one shot every four years to make history : but time , dedication , guile and application must combine for the opportunity to be seized . Sometimes , however , even this is not enough to be crowned the world 's best . Visualize running the race of your life as part of a four-man relay team , being acknowledged as winners to the world but never receiving the coveted medallion of precious medal . Imagine this happened 12 years ago to a team from a nation that has only ever won two gold medals previously and that , despite the official nature of the result , the wait goes on . Picture that in the intervening time , between the event and the present day , you have buried one of your teammates , a man who died at the age of 42 without ever touching the gold he rightfully won . This is the story of Nigeria 's 4 x 400m runner Jude Monye . Monye was born in Onicha-Ugbo , Delta State , Nigeria and ran the 400m in 45.16 at his prime at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg . His talent was so prodigious as a youth he won a scholarship to train and study in the United States at the University of Mississippi and , after an injury-plagued experience at the Atlanta Games of 1996 , then qualified to run for his nation again at Sydney 2000 . And it was in Australia that Monye , running in the Nigerian relay team of Clement Chukwu , Sunday Bada and Enefiok Udo-Obong , reached his zenith of performance on the track . The greatest . `` That relay team was the greatest , '' Monye , 38 , told CNN , at `` Nigeria House '' a theater close to the Olympic Park in East London , themed in all things west African for the duration of the 2012 Games . `` Previously there had always been a weak member in the relay team , but when myself and Clement joined Sunday , and then Enefiok came into the side , we knew we were strong . We knew something special could happen . '' The tale of Nigeria 's only gold medal in the 4 x 400m is one as packed with drama as it is delays . Going into the race , the Nigerians had reason to feel pleased with their performance so far . For a nation that had never won a medal in the 400m -- its two other golds came from football and long jump in 1996 -- the team won their semifinal to book a place in lane four . In lane five , the outright favorites , Team USA : Antonio Pettigrew , Alvin and Calvin Harrison and anchored by one of America 's greatest ever sprinters Michael Johnson , who had already taken gold in the individual 400m . Monye would race the second leg against Pettigrew . `` On the day of the final , I woke up feeling relaxed and thought ' I feel good , let 's see what happens . ' All the attention from our sports ministry was on the women 's team , they were thought to be the big medal hope , nobody really paid attention to us . `` And we only got the fifth fastest time in the semifinals , remember , but we had trust in ourselves . We knew we could deliver . '' Nigeria were in fifth when Monye clasped the baton for the second leg . By the final meter , Udo-Obong had dipped his head into second place with an overall time of 2:58.68 . `` It was the race of our lives , '' Monye told CNN . `` It 's the best 4 x 400m I ever ran , and we still hold the African record . '' While the runners from the most populous nation in Africa beat Jamaica to second , the Americans topped the podium and had gold medals draped around their necks , a crowning glory for the team and Johnson -- a winner in the individual 200m and 400m in Sydney -- in particular.But the golds would have a restless destiny . Dope and displaced gold . In 2004 the International Association of Athletics Federations ( IAAF ) ruled that Jerome Young , an American sprinter who ran for the States in the 4 x 400 semifinal , had been ineligible to compete , a decision that would see the medals taken from the quartet and the result erased from the record books . Under appeal , the Court of Arbitration for Sport ( CAS ) overturned the ruling and allowed the USA to keep their medals , but not for long . For in May 2008 , in the trial of former running coach Trevor Graham , Pettigrew testified he had used performance enhancing drugs ( EPO and human growth hormone ) under Graham 's tutelage during the Sydney Games . Graham was subsequently sentenced to one-year 's house arrest for perjury while Pettigrew suffered a two-year ban from competition . In the wake of the admission both Pettigrew and Johnson returned their gold medals voluntarily to the IOC in June of that year , before the Olympic Committee confirmed the American abrogation . Their decision came within a whisker of breaching the `` statute limitations '' of 8 years , after which there is no legal basis for retrospective change to such results . `` For eight years I could say I was a five-time Olympic gold medalist . Then I had to start saying four-time . It does n't sound the same , '' an angry Johnson told British newspaper The Daily Telegraph in July , 2012 . Pettigrew committed suicide in 2010 . The golds were no longer in the possession of the USA runners , but they still were far from the Nigerians ' grasp . The long wait ... Four more years passed -- while the IOC waited to see if any further information would surface from American doping investigations -- before the body 's executive board to award the gold medals to the west Africans . On July 20 , 2012 as the IOC convened ahead of the London Games , Nigeria were proclaimed gold medal winners of the Sydney Olympics ' 4x400m relay . Sadly , the decision came too late for Bada , who died suddenly , of a suspected cardiac arrest , in December 2011 , after collapsing at the National Stadium in Lagos . `` The day before he died I called him to talk about the medals , so it 's sad we 've lost him . The IOC should have made this a priority , it 's very frustrating , '' Monye said . `` It was sad we did n't get to hear the Nigerian national anthem during the Olympics , but especially for my friend Sunday . He 's not here to get the medal . That in itself is sad . '' According to Monye , the three remaining athletes are still unaware of how and when the medals will be given to them . `` I 'm disappointed in the IOC and the Nigerian Olympic Committee ( NOC ) . I spoke to the Nigerian sports minister last week and he said to me 'Congratulations Jude , when are you getting your gold medal ? ' I said 'Sir , you 're asking me ? ' I 've heard nothing since . `` It would have been nice to get our medals in the stadium in London , but I 'm not sure this has happened in the Olympics before . This is very rare , so there is no protocol . '' In response the IOC told CNN in a statement : `` The presentation of the medals falls under the remit of the NOC , we suggest that you contact the Nigeria Olympic Committee directly for further details . '' When CNN did , Tunde Popoola -- the Secretary General of the Nigerian Olympic Committee said : `` We can not respond to the questions raised at this time . '' Though doubt remains over when Monye , Udo-Obong and Chukwu will receive their coveted prize , the meaning it will have to those involved and a nation of avid athletics fans does not . `` Nigeria loves the Olympics especially track and field , it would mean so much for the country . The medal could now be dedicated to Bada and we 're hoping his son could pick up the medal for him instead . ''
Nigeria 's 4 x 400m team were awarded victory when Team USA 's gold was rescinded . Antonio Pettigrew , of Team USA , admitted doping during the Sydney Olympics in 2008 . Comment: Former 400m runner and member of Nigerian relay team Sunday Bada died in 2011 .