American man faces 10 YEARS in prison for supplying drugs to Blessing Okagbare

Eric Lira, a 43-year-old Texas therapist faces up to 10 years in prison following his involvement with doping Olympic athletes.

US authorities revealed that Lira pleaded guilty to supplying performance-enhancing drugs to Olympic athletes including banned Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare.

Eric Lira, a 'naturopathic' therapist based in El Paso, is the first individual to be convicted under a new US law introduced in the wake of Russia's state-backed Olympic doping scandals, the Department of Justice said in a statement as per the Daily Mail.

The 2020 law, named after Russian whistleblower Grigory Rodchenkov, grants US authorities permission to prosecute individuals involved in international doping fraud conspiracies following the Russian doping scandal.

Lira was found to have supplied drugs to Blessing Okagbare ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

Pulse Sports previously reported that Okagbare was subsequently banned from the sport for 10 years.

Okagbare was expelled from the Tokyo Olympics just before the women's 100m semi-finals after it emerged she had tested positive for human growth hormone in an out-of-competition test in Slovakia before the Games.

US Attorney Damian Williams said Monday 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,' Williams said.

According to BBC Sport, the maximum sentence for violating the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act is 10 years in prison, although Lira's sentence will be determined by a judge at a later date.

Okagbare was part of the relay team that competed in the Nigerian  Olympic trials back in June 13, 2021, just six days after she evaded sample collection for tests.

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