Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare has been hit with a 10-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit after being caught to have breached doping violations.
What happened: According to the announcement by the Athletics Integrity Unit on Friday, Blessing, the Nigerian track and field athlete won’t be participating in the Tokyo Olympics failing to cooperate with the AIU’s investigation into her case.
What they said: “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,” AIU head Brett Clothier said in a statement announcing the ban. “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.”
The big deal: the 34-year-old Blessing was temporarily suspended on July 31, 2021, before her scheduled appearance in the women’s 100-meter semifinals in Tokyo, after she tested positive for human growth hormone (HGH) in a sample taken before the Games.
- She thereafter was found to have tested positive for recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) in a different sample.
