skip to main content
Paris 2024 logo

Tokyo 2020: Nigerian sprinter Okagbare banned for doping violation hours before semi-final

Blessing Okagbare was due to race today
Blessing Okagbare was due to race today

Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare is out of the Tokyo Olympics after being handed a provisional doping ban on the day of her 100 metres semi-final.

The Athletics Integrity Unit announced that Okagbare had "tested positive for human growth hormone" in an out-of-competition test on July 19.

That resulted in a mandatory suspension, coming on the day that Okagbare was due to race in a semi-final in Tokyo.

Okagbare finished first in her heat for the women's 100m on Friday, recording a time of 11.05 seconds to beat Britain's Asha Philip and Tynia Gaither of the Bahamas.

That put the 32-year-old into a third consecutive Olympic semi-final.

Okagbare, who won Olympic silver in the long jump in Beijing 13 years ago, holds the Commonwealth Games record in the women's 100 metres, set in Glasgow in 2014.

Read Next