US officials revealed the four-time Olympian lauded the banned substances to her supplier ahead of the Tokyo Games
Nigerian 100m and long jump star Blessing Okagbare has been hit with a 10-year ban for doping after she was thrown out of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games over an out-of-competition test, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has confirmed.
The 33-year-old missed out on the women’s 100m semifinals after she tested positive for a human growth hormone in Slovakia in July 2021.
The AIU confirmed in a statement that it had banned Okagbare for five years for the presence and use of multiple prohibited substances and five years for her refusal to co-operate with its investigation, increasing the standard four-year sanction because of aggravating circumstances.
Reacting to the ruling, the AIU’s head Brett Clothier said: “We welcome the decision of the Disciplinary Tribunal; a ban of 10-year is a strong message against intentional and co-ordinated attempts to cheat at the very highest level of our sport.
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“This is an outcome that was driven by our intelligence-led target testing as well as our commitment to investigate the circumstances behind a positive test.”
Yahoo reported that an indictment brought against Okagbare’s alleged supplier Eric Lira last month saw Okagbare unnamed but clearly identified as “Athlete 1” and also included encrypted correspondence between the two parties.