Mukwuzi Joseph
The Athletics Integrity Unit has extended the ban on Nigeria’s 2008 long jump silver medalist Blessing Okagbare to 11 years.
The Nigerian was previously suspended for 10 years for doping in February 2022.
But the AIU in a document obtained on Monday added one additional year to Okagbare’s ban after she allegedly failed to respond to the charges by the extended deadline -June 21, 2022.
According to a copy of the document obtained by our correspondent, Okagbare is deemed to have admitted the anti-doping rule violations (under Rule 2.3 and Rule 2.5 of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules) and to have accepted the consequences.
The 33-year-old, who is also a sprinter, was expelled from the Tokyo Olympics last year before the women’s 100m semi-finals after testing positive for human growth hormone at an out-of-competition test in Slovakia on July 19.
