Drug Test: Nigerian athlete, Blessing Okagbare, suspended at the Tokyo Olympics .

The Athletic Integrity Unit, AIU, has suspended Blessing Okagbare, one of Nigeria’s brightest medal hopefuls in the ongoing Tokyo 2021 Olympics, with immediate effect.

Okagbare had on Friday qualified for the semi-finals of the Women’s 100m a race she would have participated in this Saturday evening. But with AIU`s announcement, her participation in the ongoing global sporting feista may have ended.

AIU revealed that an out-of-competition sample from Okagbare tested positive for human growth hormone. “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.

The AIU collected the sample from Ms. Okagbare during an out-of-competition test on 19 July. The WADA-accredited laboratory that analysed the sample notified the AIU of the adverse analytical finding at mid-day Central European Time yesterday, Friday 30 July.
The athlete was notified of the adverse analytical finding and of her provisional suspension this morning in Tokyo,” the statement read.