Blessing Okagbare was on Friday handed a 10-year ban in a statement by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) following her expulsion from last year’s Tokyo Olympics for doping violations.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics long jump silver medalist was handed ‘five years for the presence and use of multiple prohibited substances and five years for her refusal to co-operate with the AIU’s investigation into her case.’
It was concluded after trial that Okagbare’s use of multiple prohibited substances as part of an organised doping regimen in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympic Games was egregious conduct that amounted to aggravating circumstances under the Rules thereby warranting an additional period of ineligibility on top of the standard four-year sanction.
The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) had in October 2021, pressed charges against Okagbare in relation to separate disciplinary matters. First, for the presence and use of multiple (two) prohibited substances (human Growth Hormone (hGH) and recombinant erythropoietin (EPO)) for which she had been provisionally suspended on 31 July 2021, the day on which she had been scheduled to participate in the semi-finals of the Tokyo 2020 women’s 100m.
Okagbare, though not named, was identified in an indictment last month brought against Texas therapist Eric Lira, her alleged supplier.
US justice department officials in New York said Eric Lira, a 41-year-old “naturopathic” therapist based in El Paso, supplied drugs to two athletes for the “purpose of corrupting” the Tokyo Games.
Brett Clothier, Head of the AIU, described the ruling as ‘a strong message against intentional and co-ordinated attempts to cheat at the very highest level of our sport.’
At 33, Blessing Okagbare is already at the peak of her career in athletics and the ban may just have drawn the curtains for Nigeria’s queen of track and field if she loses an appeal.
She has 30 days to appeal the ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
She will be 43 by the time she’s through serving the ban in the event that she loses the appeal, and not too many athletes remain active to that age.
The Sapele born sprinter represented Nigeria at three Olympics in the 100m, 200m, 4x100m relays and long jump.
