Eric Lira, who presents himself as a doctor "kinesiologist and naturopath" installed in Texas, is accused of having supplied doping products to athletes "before and with the aim of cheating during the Olympic Games" in Tokyo organized in 2021, in violation of this "Rodchenkov law" promulgated the previous year, the ministry said in a statement.

The 41-year-old therapist was arrested Wednesday and was scheduled to appear in court today in Texas, in the southern United States.

"The promise carried by the Olympic Games is a global message of unity. Today, this office sends a strong message to those who would like to sully the Games and try to profit from this corruption," said the federal district prosecutor for the district. South New York, Damian Williams, quoted in the press release.

Eric Lira is accused of purchasing performance enhancing products, such as growth hormone and erythropoietin (EPO), in South and Central America and distributing them to two athletes as part of a doping program during their preparation for the Olympics-2020.

The two athletes are not named but the indictment identifies the "N.1 athlete" as the Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare, suspended for doping with growth hormone on the day of the semi-finals of the 100 m from the Tokyo Games.

Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare, after winning her 100m series at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, July 30, 2021 Giuseppe CACACE AFP / Archives

Okagbare was part this season of a group of very high level based in Florida, where doping products had been discovered in July 2021 in the affairs of the "athlete N.2", whose identity is unknown.

The person who discovered these products then contacted the federal police, who had opened an investigation under the "Rodchenkov law".

This law passed in 2020 allows the American justice to prosecute and impose prison sentences of up to ten years and fines of up to one million dollars to all people, regardless of their nationality, involved in an international doping system.

It bears the name of the former director of the Moscow anti-doping laboratory who was responsible for the revelations on doping organized in Russia between 2011 and 2015, and a refugee in the United States.

The law had been criticized by many international actors including the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), fearing that it would encourage other countries to create their own extraterritorial jurisdiction for political reasons.

© 2022 AFP