Athletics: Nigerian Blessing Okagbare suspended for 10 years for doping
Nigerian Blessing Okagbare during the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games. AFP - GIUSEPPE CACACE
Text by: David Kalfa Follow
2 mins
Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare has been suspended for ten years for multiple anti-doping rule violations, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has announced: “
Five years for presence and use of multiple banned substances and five years for refusing to cooperate with the AIU investigation.
“The one who was silver medalist at the 2008 Olympics, at the 2013 Worlds, and crowned in many African competitions, had been dismissed in the middle of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games after being tested positive a few days earlier.
Advertising
Read more
Is this the end of Blessing Okagbare's career?
The 33-year-old Nigerian has been suspended for 10 years for multiple anti-doping rule violations, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) announced on February 18, 2022. organization justifies as follows: “
Five years for the presence and use of several prohibited substances and five years for its refusal to cooperate with the investigation of the IAU.
»
The sprinter and jumper, silver medalist at the 2008 Olympics, at the 2013 Worlds and crowned in many African competitions, had been temporarily suspended in the middle of the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, a few days after a test which proved positive for a hormone of growth.
“The Sole Arbitrator adjudicating this case found that the Athlete’s use of multiple substances as part of an organized doping regime […] was egregiously conducted, which constitutes an aggravating circumstance
,” explains a press release from the IAU.
The text assures that the African star has shown himself closed to any collaboration with the investigators: “
The refusal of the athlete to cooperate deprived the IAU of the possibility of discovering evidence of a possible new violation by [Blessing Okagbare ] as well as possible breaches of the rules by others, for which reason he was given an additional five-year sentence.
»
On June 20, 2021, the person concerned had also tested positive, out of competition, at EPO.
“The athlete has the right to appeal [this] decision […] before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 30 days
”, recalls the IAU.
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_EN
Athletics
doping
Nigeria
Sports