Nigerian olympic medalist Blessing Okagbare has been suspended from the ongoing 2020 Tokyo Olympics. She was Suspended because she tested positive for a banned substance which is a human growth hormone. The ant-doping body said Okagbare tested positive for the prohibited substance in an out-of-competition test on July 19 – four days before the Olympics opened.
Blessing Okagbare Guilty of Doping
This is happening just 48 hours after the body disqualified ten Nigerian athletes from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, they were disqualified for failing to meet the minimum testing requirements athletes Rule 15 governing the National Anti-Doping Federation. The likes of Jumper Ruth Usoro, sprinter Favour Ofili and eight other Nigerian athletes were on Wednesday disqualified from the track and field events of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Aside Usoro and Ofili, others affected were Chioma Onyekwere (discus), Annette Echikunwoke (hammer), Chidi Okezie (4X400m mixed relays), Knowledge Omovoh (4x100m women), Rosemary Chukwuma (100m), Glory Patrick (4X400m mixed relays), Yinka Ajayi (4X400m mixed relays) and Tima Godless (4X100m relays).
The anti doping board released a statement on her disqualification and it says: “The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has provisionally suspended Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria today with immediate effect after a sample collected from the sprinter tested positive for human Growth Hormone.`
“Growth Hormone is a non-specified substance on the 2021 World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List and a provisional suspension is mandatory following an adverse analytical finding for such substance under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules. This now means that Blessing Okagbere will no longer participate in the olympic games again.
