On Wednesday, Tobi Amusan, a Nigerian athlete and women’s 100m hurdles world record holder, was charged by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for allegedly missing drug tests in the last 12 months.
After the charges were brought against her, Amusan went to her Instagram page to state that she was innocent and would be fighting the allegations in a timely manner in order to defend her title at the World Championships scheduled to hold in August in Budapest, Hungary.
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Tobi Amusan
According to the AIU, an athlete who misses tests within a period of 12 months is guilty of anti-doping rule violation, and the penalty includes suspension for two years, which may be reduced to a minimum of one year depending on the degree of fault.
The AIU confirms that it has today charged and provisionally suspended Tobi Amusan (NGR) for 3 Whereabouts Failures.The Charge will be heard by the Disciplinary Tribunal and determined before the World Athletics Championships.DETAILS HERE: https://t.co/Y8LF9j2o9f pic.twitter.com/raos85XDwR— Athletics Integrity Unit (@aiu_athletics) July 19, 2023
Later on Wednesday, the AIU would again take to its official Twitter account to announce that it had provisionally suspended Amusan from all competitions for missing the tests.
Here are other Nigerian athletes that have been suspended by the AIU for doping related offences in the last one year.
BLESSING OKAGBARE
Blessing Okagbare
In February 2022, Blessing Okagbare, a long-jump silver medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in China, was banned for 10 years by the AIU for doping offences in the lead-up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
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The unit first stated that Okagbare had been uncooperative in its investigation of her doping case before she was later provisionally suspended from all track and field events.
She was eventually hit with three separate anti-doping charges after testing positive for multiple prohibited substances. Okagbare was already 33 when the 10-year ban was handed to her, and this might mean that her career is over.
NZUBECHI GRACE NWOKOCHA
Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha
In September 2022, Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha, one of the athletes that represented and won a gold medal for Nigeria in the 4x100m relay event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, was provisionally suspended by the unit for the use of banned substances.
Ostarine and Ligandrol, two substances prohibited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), were claimed to have been detected in the blood samples taken from the athlete for testing.
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After concluding its findings on May 17, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) stripped Nigeria of the gold medal it won in the 4×100 commonwealth event when it found Nwokocha guilty of the doping offence.
DIVINE ODUDURU
Divine Oduduru
In February, Divine Oduduru, a Nigerian sprinter, was provisionally suspended from all track and field events after he was alleged to have violated two potential anti-doping rules by the unit.
Oduduru’s alleged violations relate to the possession or use or attempted use of a prohibited substance. If found guilty, Oduduru, 26, risks a six-year ban from all competitions.
The post Amusan, Okagbare… Nigerian Athletes Suspended in the Last One Year appeared first on Foundation For Investigative Journalism.