Therapist Confesses to Giving Blessing Okagbare Performance-Enhancing Drugs
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Eric Lira, a therapist based in Texas, US, has confessed to giving performance-enhancing drugs to Blessing Okagbare, a Nigerian sprinter.
The US Department of Justice said Lira made the confession in the late hours of Monday.
They said he admitted to giving the drugs to Olympic athletes, one of whom was Okagbare.
The popular speedster bagged a 10-year ban in February after she was found guilty of doping.
READ MORE: Nigerian Athlete Blessing Okagbare Gets 10-Year Ban ‘for Cheating’ at 2020 Olympics
Divine Oduduru, a fellow Nigerian athlete, was found to have patronised Lira as well. Oduduru faces a potential six-year ban.
Lira faces the possibility of spending up to 10 years in prison for his role in the athletes’ flouting of doping laws.
Damian Williams, a U.S. Attorney, said, after Lira pleaded guilty in a federal court in Manhattan, that the case was a “watershed moment for international sport”.
“Lira provided banned performance-enhancing substances to Olympic athletes who wanted to corruptly gain a competitive edge,” he said.
READ MORE: Athletes Integrity Unit Suspends Nigeria’s Divine Oduduru Over Doping Allegations
“Such craven efforts to undermine the integrity of sport subverts the purpose of the Olympic Games – which is to showcase athletic excellence through a level playing field.
“Lira’s efforts to pervert that goal will not go unpunished.”
US anti-doping officials welcomed Lira’s conviction, noting that it was made possible only by the recently enacted law.
“Without this law, Lira, who held himself out as a doctor to athletes, likely would have escaped consequence for his distribution of dangerous performance-enhancing drugs and his conspiracy to defraud the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games because he did not fall under any sport anti-doping rules,” Travis Tygart, the chief executive officer of the US Anti-Doping Agency, said.