Okagbare didn’t just steal from competitors, she stole a lot from us-Neita 

British Olympic medallist Daryll Neita has described the Blessing Okagbare doping scandal as nightmarish and disgusting.

Neita a former member of Florida based Rana Reider Group where discredited former Nigeria sprint queen Okagbare used to receive coaching tutorials before she was banned described the Okagbare doping scandal as one of the biggest doping stories in athletics.

Neita recalled the “nightmare” of finding out about Okagbare’s drug test results on the day of her 100m semi-final in Tokyo. “The Blessing thing was just disgusting,” she told The Times of London. “Finding that out in Tokyo, the day of my semi-final, going into my final, was just an absolute nightmare.

“For me, it was heartbreaking . . . it took me a long time to really come to terms with that situation because to be around someone every day, you’re cool with them . . . you have no idea what these people are doing when they go home.

“It sucks because it was such a massive story — it has been one of the biggest doping stories in a long time in track and field, and to have kind of seen it, first-hand, it makes me sick.

“She didn’t just steal from competitors, she stole a lot from us — we saw her every day, at practice together, doing reps together. Any athlete that has those kinds of thoughts or intentions to do that kind of thing should just quit now because this isn’t the space for you. And I feel like you always get caught in the end anyway.”

A lawyer for Reider said: “The AIU and US DOJ [Department of Justice] have spoken on Blessing’s anti-doping rule violations. The conclusion is that, from day one, Rana had, and still has, nothing to do with Blessing’s decisions or actions related to doping.

“To date, the US Center for SafeSport has not filed a Notice of Allegations against Rana. We are fully prepared to defend any forthcoming allegations. The ‘controversies’ being pushed by certain individuals in the track and field world are, in fact, not controversies at all.”

Okagbare was withdrawn from the semi-finals after testing positive for human growth hormone. She was given a ten-year ban last month by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for the use of multiple prohibited substances and for not cooperating with its investigation. There is no suggestion that Reider or anyone else in his group was involved in anti-doping violations.

Neita felt UK Athletics “blackmailed” her when the governing body said it would remove her funding if she did not cut ties with Reider.

Neita, part of the Great Britain 4x100m relay team who won Olympic bronze at Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020, had been training with the famous sprint coach in the United States when allegations of sexual misconduct emerged against him. He is understood to be facing an investigation by the Center for SafeSport in the US.

In November UKA issued a statement saying that any athlete working with Reider would be removed from the Lottery-funded World Class Programme unless they moved to a new coaching set-up until the investigation had concluded.

Neita, who had joined Reider’s group in 2019, left him for a new coach, but two other British athletes, Adam Gemili and Laviai Nielsen, initially chose to stay and subsequently lost their funding. 

Neita said that she did not agree with the way UKA handled the situation. “If you’re worried about the safeguarding of athletes you shouldn’t be blackmailed with funding,” she said. “I think that’s two completely different things, in my opinion.”

Although she decided to leave Reider’s group, Neita, 25, said that UKA’s position over funding had not been the main reason. “I don’t just want to be someone who ran fast and got records. I want to be someone who is remembered for standing for the right things in life,” she said.

“I just don’t want to be around controversies that don’t involve me. I had such a good season and it was so overshadowed by things that don’t concern me. I work really hard to be where I am and I just couldn’t have my narrative be controlled by that. It feels like no matter what I was going to do, that was going to be part of it.”