Tag: Blessing Okagbare

Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare gets 10-yr ban for doping violations

Aminu Imam

Nigerian sprinter, Blessing Okagbare, has been banned for a total of 10 years for multiple breaches of anti-doping rules, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) said on Friday. Okagbare, who has an Olympic silver medal in the long jump from the 2008 Beijing Games, was provisionally suspended before the 100 metres semi-finals at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics last year. An AIU statement said the sole arbitrator adjudicating the case concluded that Okagbare’s “use of multiple prohibited substances” was “part of an organised doping regimen in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympic…

Read More

Tokyo Olympics: Blessing Okagbare suspended for failing drug test

Aminu Imam

Nigeria’s sprinter, Blessing Okagbare, is out of the Tokyo Olympics after being suspended for failing a drugs test. Okagbare, who is a rival to Great Britain’s Dina Asher-Smithhad, won her 100m heat yesterday, and was due to race in the semi-finals on Saturday against Asher-Smith and Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herath. According to the Athletics Integrity Unit, the 32-year-old had tested positive for a human growth hormone following an out-of-competition test on 19 July. This came after 10 other Nigerian athletes were declared ineligible for the Games because of non-compliance with out-of-competition…

Read More

Okagbare leads Nigeria’s 4×100 metres quartet to improved ranking

Aminu Imam

The Blessing Okagbare-led Nigeria’s 4x100m Women’s quartet increased their rankings from top 16 to top 15, as the curtain was drawn on the 2020 Olympic Games Trials in Lagos yesterday. On a day that heavy downpour almost pushed the final day of the Meet forward to today, Okagbare who had on Thursday won the Women’s 100m with a 10.63secs, anchored the quartet of Grace Nwokocha, Rosemary Chukwuma and Blessing Ogundiran to an improved 42.97sec. However, the men’s sprint quartet were not that lucky. The 39.04secs clocked by Enoch Adejoke, Jerry…

Read More