Divine Oduduru hits out at Rana Reider on 'd*ath threats', ill-treatment, and 'favouritism' to specific sprinter at Tumbleweed

Nigerian 200m record holder Divine Oduduru spilled a lot about his former coach Rana Reider for playing a part in his career woes and the 'favouritism' that goes on with some elite athletes at the Tumbleweed training group in Florida.

In 2023, Oduduru who was slammed with a six-year ban by the AIU for violations, possession of prohibited substances, and attempted use of a prohibited substance or method in relation to the Blessing Okagbare case, finally broke his silence in a recent interview with BOLD Sports, where he revealed several details on the controversial coach.

The former NCAA standout sprinter detailed how he was unfairly treated by coach Reider in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics and at the Games, before his six-year ban by the AIU.

"When I signed with Puma, I was still with my former coach. Then my agent said Puma requested that I should go train with a specific coach and I said I don't want to train with him because he's not used to my system, he doesn't know how my program goes," said Oduduru.

"I think before I actually came to the group, the coach already condemned me, he was like he doesn't even like me, but my own is why will Paul and Puma say I should go train with someone that doesn't really want to train me?," he continued.

The 28-year-old with 100m best time of 9.86s and 19.73s in the 200m, also said coach Reider made every effort to stall his progress as a sprinter and showed favouritism to his preferred athletes, especially Canadian sprinter Andre De Grasse.

"From the onset, I always had issues with him. He told me he was going to stab and kill me and that nothing is going to happen. He saw be vulnerable and he saw the fact that nobody will question him...

"When I come to training he switched my workouts, when I got into training to run fast he switched me off and start building me up again and I'll be like I'm trying to get into competition but why am I still getting load but somebody else is getting into speed workouts and we're trying to get into the same competition?," he added.

The Nigerian then disclosed how he was sent out of practice for challenging Reiner and the ill-treatment other national athletes faced at Tumbleweed, based on the favouritism for some athletes.

"I'm not really the type to talk back at my coach but it got to a point that I had to tell him...De Grasse and others are doing short sprints, but these are the same people I'm supposed to be running with, that why am I doing the long distance? And he was like, 'oh he's my coach, he knows better' and we got into an argument and sent me out of practice that I don't have the right to say anything to him.

"Even when we have treatments, he gets his favourite athletes to get treatments and all of that. Even the other athletes like Jamaican athletes, we all complain. Even Trayvon Bromell (2016 world 60m champion) was complaining. That's just the truth except if many of them don't want to come out to say anything, a lot of them were complaining because things were not going the way it should go."

Oduduru signed with Puma in 2019, three years after his viral semifinal race and photo with Usain Bolt at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

He dominated the US college circuit in 2018 by becoming the double sprint champion, running an impressive 100m time of 9.86s - the second-fastest time ever run by a collegiate athlete, and 45 minutes later, his 19.73s to win the 200m race made him the second fastest collegian of all time.

Unfortunately, his career took a nosedive when he joined coach Reider and the Tumbleweed group, before his ban by the AIU in 2023, which he still claims innocence of as a result of being set up.

In November 2021, Reider was accused of sexual misconduct after which it emerged that he had an alleged affair with a teenage British athlete 26 years his junior when she was 18 and he was UK Athletics sprints and relays lead. The renowned sprint coach was later sanctioned for a relationship that “presented a power imbalance” with one of his athletes.

At the Paris Olympic Games, the Canadian Olympic Committee withdrew his accreditation and stooped him from training De Grasse after his sexual abuse case.