Latest doping news

[RunUnlimited]

Holy ****, I'm reading these filings and they are DAMNING against Blessing Okagbare.

They paint a picture of an athlete who was a seasoned drugs cheat (read the complaint from the FBI regarding the incriminating messages she sent to the person supplying her EPO and hGH, Eric Lira, where she provided a list of drugs that she wanted, including EPO and hGH. Also how she expressed how "pleased she was" with the 100m time she ran last year (10.63 with a 2.7m wind) and told Lira that whatever he had done was working well.)

They also showed a manipulative character who knew how to bend the rules to suit her needs, like how she deliberately missed a test so that it would be a whereabouts miss, because she wanted to avoid getting tested following a recent dosage.

Seeing Okagbare then flail around trying to claim that the AIU had targeted her by leaking the results of the positive B sample to the Nigerian press, that the samples had been incorrectly stored, denying that she'd taken hGH or EPO, or that she'd never known Eric Lira, was just pathetic to read. They had her bang to rights and the 10 year ban was entirely justified.

Based on this ruling, I'd be fairly confident in stating that Okagbare had been cheating for years, considering the evidence presented in the case.


Good riddance to bad rubbish.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/65531036

Further developments on this case.... The guy who supplied Okagbare with the HGH ultimately lead to her huge doping ban, Eric Lira, could get up to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty under a new US law to tackle the criminal aspects of doping violations, something that should have been done ages ago in my opinion.

[Grassmarket]

As somebody pointed out on totallympics, it’s great that this guy is having the book thrown at him, but how come Salazar & the Nike Oregon Project get a pass?

[philipo]

The cost of american lawyers for one and I suspect Salazar and NOP not quite as bad

[Laps]

Grassmarket

That would be an extreme example of whataboutery.
If it hadn't been Sala*ar and for his annoyance of USADA over the years (about rules, TUEs etc) it must be very doubtful that they would have gone after him at all.
In the end he got a 4 year suspension for very little.
Namely possession of testostone gel with no evidence it was ever used on competing athletes, only himself and his sons.
Being involved in an L-carnitine experiment on a coach.
Misleading USADA a lot.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal verdict concluded that the misleading was the more serious of the rule breaches.
There was no evidence at all of elite athlete performance doping.

[Ladyloz]

USADA did go after Salazar and NOP to be fair; they spent years investigating them. Salazar got a 4 year ban (later US Safe Sport investigations resulted in a lifetime ban) and Nike Oregon Project was shut down.

Unfortunately they couldn't nail Salazar's doping methods to individual athletes.

[Laps]

Or they didn't exist. The CAS appeal crawled over all available evidence and still nothing popped up.
Ethically dubious medication yes. Any number of failed TUE attempts but doping there was none.

The US Safe Sport ban was supposedly based on sexual misconduct, emotional abuse and weight shaming allegations.

[Occasional Hope]

Yes, and he got more of a ban for that than Reider, who has been 'censured' for inappropriate relationships, but is now allowed to coach again.

[Laps]

Apart from infringing that doomed to failure and irrelevance 'Nannying Adults rule' I'm not sure what else Reider did?
Anyway whatever it was it doesn't seem to have much relevance to Salazar.

[LuckySpikes]

World Record holder for the 10km, Rhonex Kipruto has been charged with doping based on his biological passport.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/may/17/kenya-10km-world-record-holder-rhonex-kipruto-suspended-for-doping

[Grassmarket]

Italian shot putter Nick Ponzio retires/gets ban after a three strikes whereabouts failure. Insisted it was dodgy kit & confusion, but that won’t wash anymore.

[Occasional Hope]

Yeah, no one believes those excuses any more.

[Occasional Hope]

A few Kenyans: Top sprinter and African champion among latest Kenyans banned for doping (insidethegames.biz)

[Occasional Hope]

Marathon runner Titus Ekiru tested positive on two occasions: https://athleticsweekly.com/athletic...qyO5uGOltRi4Gs

[Occasional Hope]

Massively ramped up testing at this year's Kenyan trials: Kenyan athletes taken aback by new anti-doping protocols | Nation

[Occasional Hope]

Interesting follow up article here: https://nation.africa/kenya/sports/a...-start-4296394

Some hesitated. Others conveniently cited injuries, and quite a few melted into thin air.

Sounds like there could be a few cases for the AIU.

[Runner88]

Time to scrawl through the DNS and see if any big names were no shows?

[Occasional Hope]

Emmanuel Korir pulled out, but then he's looked awful all year and has the bye so that may be unrelated.

[marra]

Jonathon Gault reporting that Tobi Amusan has been charged with the "3 whereabouts test missed" thing.

[Christy93]

She may not have been doping, but I couldn't trust a single Nigerian athlete with more than 10% confidence at this point. In fact, I am well into "assume they are cheating and hope to be pleasantly surprised if they retire without failing a test" territory.

[jjimbojames]

Sounds like targeted testing, too - “I’ve been tested more than most…and was fine to be tested a few days after the missed test”. Three whereabouts failures in a year at a time when she’s been at her peak…it doesn’t look great

[Ladyloz]

When you miss a test and certainly two you automatically get target tested I think and rightly so.

[Chafford1]

Looks like a potential 2 year ban unless there are mitigating circumstances. And given the 12 month period covers the Eugene WCs, will she be stripped of her WC gold medal?

[jjimbojames]

I don’t think it gets backdated like that for whereabouts failures - maybe if it did, people would be more careful and be where they said they would be!