Nigerian athlete Blessing Okagbare suspended from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for failing a drug test

Nigerian athlete Blessing Okagbare has been suspended from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics for failing a drug test.

Blessing tested positive for human growth hormone, a prohibited non-specified substance and will no longer participate in the semifinals of the women’s 100m.

She was supposed to run in the semi finals of the women’s 100m today!

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.