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| (FILES) In this file photo taken on July 30, 2021, Blessing Okagbare reacts after winning her race in the women’s 100m heats during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo. Giuseppe CACACE / AFP |
Blessing Okagbare has had her ban extended as Nigeria’s 4×100m relay team lose their qualification spot for the World Athletics Championships in Oregon, United States.
According to the Athletics Integrity Unit, Okagbare’s 10-year ban has been extended by a year after she was found to have committed additional anti-doping rule violations.
The 33-year-old is said to have evaded sample collection, tampered, or attempted to tamper with the doping control process.
She was charged for her latest anti-doping rule violation on June 10, 2022.
Following her latest sanction, Okagbare seemed to respond with a cryptic message on social media.
As result, Nigeria’s 4x100m relay team have now lost their spot for July’s World Athletics Championships because Okagbare took part in the 4x100m event at the Nigeria Olympic trial six days after evading sample collection on June 13, 2021.
Consequently, all individual or relay results involving her from June 13, 2021, are now disqualified under the rules.
Nigeria’s 4×100m women’s team had the last qualification spot before this latest ruling and the deadline to achieve a fresh qualification time elapsed on Sunday.
Okagbare was banned earlier this year for 10 years on February 14 for testing positive for Human Growth Hormone and recombinant erythropoietin, popularly known as EPO, as well as for refusing to cooperate with the AIU’s investigation.
