Blessing Okagbare has reacted to the 10-year doping ban
issued to her by the Athletic Integrity Unit (AIU) for breaching multiple
anti-doping rules.
In a press statement on Friday, the AIU announced that its
disciplinary tribunal had prohibited the Nigerian sprinter from participating
in World Athletics-sanctioned track and field event for the next 10 years.
The 33-year-old athlete got a five-year ban for the presence
and use of multiple prohibited substances and another half-a-decade for her
refusal to cooperate with the AIU’s investigation of her case.
Reacting to the development in a tweet posted on Saturday, Okagbare acknowledged the ban, adding that her “lawyers are currently studying it for our next line of action”.
“My attention has
been drawn to the statement issued by the AIU regarding its disciplinary panel
decision. My lawyers are currently studying it for our next line of action,
which we will inform you soon,” the tweet reads.
The case had been ongoing since the sprinter was suspended
indefinitely during the Tokyo Olympics after the AIU adjudged her to have
tested positive for human growth hormone in one of the out-of-competition drug
examinations she did in Slovakia on July 19.
She was thereafter slammed with three separate anti-doping
charges in October 2021.
In January 2022, the US department of justice had identified
Okagbare as an “accomplice” in the case against Eric Lira, the self-acclaimed
kinesiologist and naturopathic doctor who provided performance-enhancing drugs
to athletes who participated at the Tokyo Olympics.
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