By David Kabiyesi with Agency Report
Texas therapist, Eric Lira has admitted to giving Nigeria sprint queen, Blessing Okagbare performance enhancing drugs which led to her 11-years ban after Tokyo Olympics, iwitnesslive.com gathered.
She now faces 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to supplying performance-enhancing drugs to the Nigerian female sprinter.
The city of El Paso therapist becomes the first individual to be convicted under a new U.S. law introduced in the wake of Russia’s state-backed Olympic doping scandals, the Department of Justice said in a statement.
U.S. Attorney, Damian Williams, 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.
“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.” he said
