Athletics
BREAKING! US therapist pleads guilty in Blessing Okagbare Olympic doping case
A Texas therapist faces up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty on Monday to supplying performance-enhancing drugs to Olympic athletes, including banned Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare, United States authorities said.
Eric Lira, a “naturopathic” therapist based in the city of El Paso, is the first individual to be convicted under a new US law introduced in the wake of Russia’s state-backed Olympic doping scandals, the Department of Justice said in a statement.
The 2020 law, named after Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, enables the American authorities to prosecute individuals involved in international doping fraud conspiracies.
Lira was found to have supplied drugs to Okagbare in the build-up to the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Okagbare, who was subsequently banned from the sport for 11 years, was expelled from the Tokyo Games just before the women’s 100m semi-finals.
It had emerged that she had tested positive for human growth hormone in an out-of-competition test in Slovakia before the start of the global showpiece.
US Attorney Damian Williams said on Monday, after Lira pleaded guilty in a federal court in Manhattan, that the case was a “watershed moment for international sport”.
“Lira provided banned performance-enhancing substances to Olympic athletes who wanted to corruptly gain a competitive edge,” he said.
“Such craven efforts to undermine the integrity of sport subverts the purpose of the Olympic Games – which is to showcase athletic excellence through a level playing field.
“Lira’s efforts to pervert that goal will not go unpunished.”
Athletes who obtained the drugs from Lira were not all identified but the Athletics Integrity Unit, an independent anti-doping body, said they were Okagbare and fellow-Nigerian Divine Oduduru, who is facing a potential six-year ban.
The maximum sentence for violating the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act is 10 years in prison. Lira’s sentence will be determined by a judge at a later date, the Department of Justice statement added.
US anti-doping officials welcomed Lira’s conviction, noting that it was made possible only by the recently enacted law.
“Without this law, Lira, who held himself out as a doctor to athletes, likely would have escaped consequence for his distribution of dangerous performance-enhancing drugs and his conspiracy to defraud the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games because he did not fall under any sport anti-doping rules,” said Travis Tygart, the chief executive officer of the US Anti-Doping Agency.
–AFP/ Bloomberg
Athletics
Behold, CAS statement on Tobi Amusan
![](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/amusan-2.jpg)
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan is the winner as the Court of Arbitration for Sports, CAS has rejected the appeals filed by World Athletics and WADA.
The decision confirms the decision taken by the World Athletics disciplinary tribunal finding that Tobi Amusan did not commit any anti-doping rule violation.
![](https://i0.wp.com/www.sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/CAS_Media_Release_9992_10067__final_-1-640x1024.jpg?resize=640%2C1024&ssl=1)
Here is the full statement of CAS.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeals filed by
World Athletics (WA) and by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the decision issued on 17 August 2023 (the Challenged Decision) by the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal (WADT) in relation to the hurdler Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Amusan (Nigeria).
Accordingly, the Challenged Decision in which the WADT considered that Tobi Amusan did not violate Rule 2.4 of the WA Anti-Doping Rules (WA ADR) and that no period of ineligibility should be imposed on the Athlete is confirmed.
The Athlete was initially charged with committing an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under Rule 2.4 WA ADR following three alleged Whereabouts Failures within a 12-month period.
In their respective appeal to CAS, WA and WADA had sought the imposition of a two-year period of ineligibility. The CAS Panel held a hearing on 19 January 2024. Having deliberated, the CAS Panel has issued its decision today dismissing both appeals. The CAS Panel unanimously acknowledged that the Athlete committed two filing failures but did not confirm the existence of a missed test, alleged by WA and WADA, which would have been the third Whereabouts Failure committed within a 12-month
period. Accordingly, the CAS Panel concluded that the Athlete did not commit an ADRV and that the Challenged Decision should be confirmed.
The reasoned award will be published by CAS unless the parties request confidentiality.
Athletics
Tobi Amusan floors WADA and World Athletics!
![Tobi Amusan’s Trial Begins Today -](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Tobi-Amusans-Trial-Begins-Today.jpg)
Nigeria’s Paris 2024 medal hopeful, Tobi Amusan has been cleared as the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the World Athletics.
She is therefore cleared to feature at the Paris 2024 Olympics. Amusan is the 100m hurdles world record holder.
The athlete was charged in July last year with missing three anti-doping tests in 12 months but was cleared of the offence by the Disciplinary Tribunal of the sport’s governing body, World Athletics.
The Integrity Unit of the World Athletics appealed the clearance which has now been dismissed by CAS, the final arbiter in the case.
CAS in its statement remarked that its panel “unanimously acknowledged that the athlete committed two filing failures but did not confirm the existence of a missed test, alleged by WA and WADA, which would have been the third Whereabouts Failure committed within 12 months.”
Amusan set the world record of 12.12 seconds in the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July 2022 and went on to win the title.
She finished sixth in the world championships in Budapest last year.
World Athletics’ anti-doping rules say any athlete failing to declare their whereabouts for a doping test on three occasions over 12 months is ineligible to compete for two years.
Athletics
Tobi Amusan thanks God for success at CAS in doping case
![](https://sportsvillagesquare.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/amusan-2.jpg)
An elated Nigeria’s 100m hurdles world record holder, Tobi Amusan has thanked God for her success in an appeal filled against her by the Athletics Integrity Unit of the World Athletics.
Had the appeal been upheld, ,Amusan would have has to miss the Paris 2024 Olymoics.
“It’s ALL GOD” Amusan said in an Instagram post alongside the court’s announcement.
Amusan, who broke the world record during her semi-final race at the 2022 world championships, is a hot favourite in her signature event at the Paris Olympics, which begin on July 26.
World Athletics and WADA did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
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