The first athlete declared positive in a doping test during the Olympic period of the Tokyo Games, the Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare will not be at the start of the 100m final disputed on Saturday, July 31.

The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said in a statement that she tested positive for growth hormone.

2008 Olympic vice-champion in the long jump, 32-year-old Okagbare was tested out of competition on July 19.

She was one of the "outsiders" for the 100m final.

Asked by AFP, the anti-doping gendarme of athletics did not wish to specify whether the test had been carried out in Japan or in another country.

Technically, the sample being taken by the IAU, it could not be taken on an Olympic site, responsibility of the ITA (International Control Agency).

African record holder in the 200m

Blessing Okagbare was on the start lists for the 100m semi-finals on Saturday night (7.15 p.m. local, 12:15 p.m. in France), with the final scheduled for 9.50 p.m., after winning his series in 11:05 on Friday.

The Nigerian is the seventh best performer of the season on the straight line (10 sec 89 on July 6).

She is also the African record holder in the 200m (22.04 in 2018).

Nigeria on Thursday saw ten of its 23 athletes selected for the Games fail because they failed to meet out-of-competition doping control standards, with Nigeria among the countries classified as “high risk” by the IAU and ahead of submit to additional obligations.

They were busy fighting over power, Excercising their pride over puma contract / kits forgetting their major responsibility "THE ATHLETES".

It's sad that this cycle keeps repeating its self and some people will come out to say I am arrogant for speaking my truth.

It is my CAREER❤

- Blessing Okagbare MFR (@ mountain214) July 29, 2021

"The sports system in Nigeria is totally flawed and we, the athletes, are still collateral victims," ​​Okagbare lamented on Twitter.

The sprinter is part of a very high level group based in Florida and coached by the American Rana Reider, which includes some of the favorites for the 100m men with the American Trayvon Bromell and the Canadian Andre de Grasse.

The French Jimmy Vicaut is also part of this group.

With AFP

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