GRACE Nwokocha has been handed a lengthy ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit of World Athletics, becoming the third Nigerian to be sanctioned for anti-doping violations in recent months.
Blessing Okagbare and Divine Oduduru were earlier banned this year for doping offences, with the former, an Olympic medallist, getting 10 years and latter six years.
Nwokocha, the sprinter who won a gold medal with Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay team at the Commonwealth Games last year, has been banned for three years for failing a drug test.
The AIU, an independent organ of World Athletics, explained the details of Nwokocha’s failed test, noting that she provided a sample that contained banned substances in August 2022 during the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.
The 100m and 200m runner’s sample produced adverse analytical findings of Ostarine and Dihydroxy-LGD-
4033 (a Metabolite of Ligandrol) which are non-specified substances, according to the AIU.
Nwokocha was immediately suspended from the Commonwealth Games and Nigeria later got stripped of the relay gold as a result of her failed doping test.
“On 2 September 2022, the AIU issued the Athlete with a Notice of Provisional Suspension and Public Disclosure based on the Adverse Analytical Finding and informed the Athlete, inter alia,
that the Adverse Analytical Finding was being brought forward as an apparent Anti-Doping Rule Violation (“ADRV”) under Article 2.1 and/or Article 2.2 of the CGF ADR by the CGF, which was
responsible (in accordance with Article 7.1.1 of the CGF ADR) for determining, on behalf of the CGF (i) whether an ADRV had been committed and (ii) the applicable Consequences related
to the Commonwealth Games,” the AIU added in a statement issued today.
The AIU added that it also informed Nwokocha in November that, following the findings of finding prohibited substances in her system, she had been charged with a violation of anti-doping doping rules.
“On 10 March 2023, a hearing took place in the Athlete’s case before the CGF Court and on 18 May 2023, the CGF provided World Athletics with a copy of the Decision of the CGF Court
dated 17 May 2023 in relation to the ADRVs and the imposition of Consequences under the CGF
ADR (the “CGF Decision”), which ruled, inter alia, that: the athlete had committed ADRVs pursuant to Article 2.1 and Article 2.2 of the CGF ADR; the Athlete had not demonstrated the source of the Ostarine or the Metabolite of Ligandrol found in the sample,” the AIU added.
Subsequently, the AIU noted that Nwokocha admitted to the charges and agreed to serve the three-year ban.
The 22-year-old began serving her ban from August 2022 when she was suspended and it will end in August 2025.
