Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare, one of Nigeria’s brightest medal hopefuls in the ongoing Tokyo 2021 Olympics, has been suspended with immediate effect from the Games after failing a drug test.
The Athletic Integrity Unit, AIU, has suspended the 32-year-old Nigerian who had tested positive for a human growth hormone following an out-of-competition test on 19 July, 2021.
Her suspension was announced on Saturday, July 31st, 2021 via the official Twitter account of the AIU.
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In making this announcement, the tweet stated that Okagbare was suspended because one of her out-of-competition tests samples came back positive for human Growth Hormone, a prohibited substance by the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List.
This came after 10 other Nigerian athletes were declared ineligible for the Games because of non-compliance with out-of-competition drug testing requirements in the run-up to the Olympics.