athletics Athletics Integrity Union Temporarily Suspends Oduduru

According to information from the Athletics Integrity Unit, Nigerian sprint star Divine Oduduru has been temporarily suspended.

The suspension of the Nigerian track superstar was officially announced by the AIU on Thursday afternoon through a release.

“The sprinter has been notified of potential ADRVs for possession (Rule 2.6 of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules; ADR) and/or use or attempted use of multiple Prohibited Substances (Rule 2.2 ADR). 

He has already been placed on temporary suspension.

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These alleged infractions are the result of an AIU investigation based on evidence in a criminal complaint filed by the US Department of Justice under the Rodchenkov Act on January 12, 2022 against “naturopathic” therapist Eric Lira, who practices in the US.

Athletes are allegedly given performance-enhancing medications by Lira prior to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games (delayed until summer 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic).

Athletes “Athlete 1” and “Athlete 2” are specifically mentioned in the allegation against Lira.

Blessing Okagbare was banned from the sport for ten years in February 2022 after a single arbitrator of the AIU Disciplinary Tribunal said they were “comfortably satisfied” that ‘Athlete 1’ was Oduduru’s teammate.

This ban was later increased to eleven years in June 2022 as a result of new allegations made by the AIU.

The AIU asserts that Oduduru is the “Athlete 2” named in the complaint based on material in the complaint, text conversations retrieved from Okagbare’s phone by the Federal Bureau of Inquiry (FBI), and further evidence gathered from the AIU investigation.

The AIU will not comment further at this time because the procedure is still in progress, according to the announcement.


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