Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare has been given an additional 12 months’s ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) to her current 10-year suspension for doping violations, evading pattern collections and tampering with the doping management course of. Because of the extra ban, Nigeria has misplaced its qualification place within the girls’s 4x100m relay on the upcoming World Championships in Eugene, Ore.
In February, the 33-year-old was handed her authentic ban for “a number of breaches of anti-doping guidelines.” She was initially suspended throughout the Tokyo Olympics after failing a drug take a look at taken a number of days earlier than her occasion.
“Over time, we’ve got repeatedly seen how one particular person’s actions adversely have an effect on teammates who’ve skilled exhausting and labored actually for his or her outcomes,” AIU head Brett Clothier mentioned in an announcement. “On this occasion, Nigeria has misplaced an vital qualification spot. These are the principles and we is not going to compromise on integrity.”
The reasoning behind the Nigerian relay workforce suspension is that Okagbare performed a big position in serving to her workforce qualify for the World Championships, six days after she evaded a pattern assortment on June 13, 2021. All outcomes from 2021 that concerned Okagbare have now been disqualified.
Okagbare’s additional ban disqualified Nigeria’s 4×100 relay squad’s qualifying time for the World Championships
Particulars right here ➡️ https://t.co/XI2wsMS1kT pic.twitter.com/IN4SOWnD8k
— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) June 28, 2022
Okagbare gained her warmth within the 100m on the Tokyo Olympics however was dominated out of the semi-finals after the AIU mentioned she had examined constructive for a human progress hormone following an out-of-competition take a look at on July 19, 2021.
She beforehand gained bronze within the 200m on the 2013 World Championships and is an Olympic and World Championship medallist within the lengthy bounce. She holds the Commonwealth Video games report within the 100m at 10.85, set in Glasgow in 2014.