Who Is Blessing Okagbare? Nigerian Sprinter's Doping Ban Extended To 11 Years

Former Nigerian track and field athlete Blessing Okagbare, who specialised in long jump and sprints, received an additional one-year ban for additional doping violations, on top of her already existing 10-year suspension.

She was accused of "evading sample collection and tampering or attempted tampering with the doping control process" by the Athletics Integrity Unit. Okagbare received her initial suspension in February for "repeated violations of anti-doping guidelines." She failed a drug test, which led to her suspension during the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Nigeria has lost its chance to qualify for the women's 4x100m relay at the World Championships in Oregon in July due to Okagbare's further ban.

Who is Blessing Okagbare?

- Blessing Okagbare, a 34-year-old Nigerian with Urhobo ancestry, was born in Sapele, Delta. Her professors and relatives pushed her to participate in sports because of her athletic body.

- She first participated in football as a high school student before developing an interest in track and field in 2004.
- In the triple jump, she set a Nigerian record of 14.13 metres in May 2007 in Lagos at the All-Africa Games trials. After that, Chinonye Ohadugha beat it.
-She earned a silver medal in the women's long jump competition at the Beijing Summer Olympics in 2008 when she was just 19 years old.

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- With a time of 10.85 seconds, she also holds the Commonwealth Games record for the quickest women's 100-meter time.
- She held the African record for the 100 metres until Murielle Ahouré broke it in 2016. Her fastest time was 10.79.

- Okagbare completed a wind-aided 10.63 100 m on June 17, 2021.
-She set the African record for the 200 metres in 2018 with a time of 22.04 seconds, making her the second-fastest female athlete from Africa in the 200 metres behind Christine Mboma, who set the record in 2021 with a time of 21.78 seconds.
-In 2010, she won the African 100-meter and long-jump championships. Additionally, she has medals from the IAAF Continental Cup, the World Relays, and the All-Africa Games.

- During the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Okagbare failed a drug test on July 31, 2021, and was subsequently suspended. She was given a 10-year athletics suspension starting on 30 July 2021 for several violations of the World Athletics Anti-Doping rules, which was revealed on 18 February 2022. Following a hearing at the Athletics Integrity Unit, Okagbare was banned for ten years, effectively putting an end to her athletic career in disappointment.

- It was discovered that she had taken both human growth hormone and EPO over an extended period of time, in addition to failing to cooperate with the investigation.