By Victor Kanayo
The Athletics Integrity Unit, (AIU) has slammed suspension on Nigerian sprinter Divine Oduduru for anti-doping violations.
According to AIU via its official website in a statement on Thursday, the suspension is provisional.
Part of the statement obtained by Heritage Times HT reads, “The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has notified Divine Oduduru of two potential Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) and is seeking a six-year ban against the Nigerian.
“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 been provisionally suspended immediately.”
The AIU said, it will supply more information pertaining to the athlete in the near future.
AIU said these alleged violations stem from an AIU investigation based on information in a criminal charge brought against US-based “naturopathic” therapist Eric Lira, on 12 January, 2022, by the United States Department of Justice under the Rodchenkov Act.
Lira is alleged to have supplied performance enhancing drugs to athletes before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The complaint against Lira provides specific information regarding persons identified as ‘Athlete 1’ and ‘Athlete 2’. In February 2022, a sole arbitrator of the AIU Disciplinary Tribunal concluded that they were “comfortably satisfied” that ‘Athlete 1’ was Oduduru’s team-mate, Blessing Okagbare, and banned her from the sport for ten years, which was increased to an 11-year ban in June 2022, following further charges brought by the AIU.
Based on the information in the complaint, including text conversations imaged from Okagbare’s mobile phone by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) and further evidence obtained from the AIU investigation, the AIU alleges that Oduduru is ‘Athlete 2’ identified in the complaint.
Multiple Nigerian medalist, Blessing Okagbare, is currently serving ban due to doping issues.
Oduduru once held the world lead during the 2019 season when he ran a personal best of 9.86 seconds in the men’s 100 metres in Austin and broke the national record the same day in the 200m in a time of 19.73 to win both National Collegiate Athletic Association titles, as well as the 4x100m relay gold.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Oduduru was disqualified in the heats of the men’s 100m for a false start, before narrowly missing the final of the men’s 200m.
