Texas therapist pleads guilty to supplying banned drugs to Okagbare
A judge will determine Lira's sentence at a later date, according to the Justice Department statement.
A therapist from Texas faces a possible 10-year prison sentence after pleading guilty on Monday to providing performance-enhancing drugs to Olympic athletes, including banned Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare, according to US authorities.
Eric Lira, an El Paso-based "naturopathic" therapist, is the first person to be convicted under a new US law established following Russia's state-sponsored Olympic doping scandals, the Department of Justice stated.
The 2020 law, known as the Grigory Rodchenkov Act, allows US authorities to prosecute those involved in international doping fraud conspiracies.
Lira was discovered to have provided drugs to Okagbare leading up to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, which were delayed due to the pandemic.
Okagbare, who subsequently received a 10-year ban from the sport, was ejected from the Tokyo Olympics just before the women's 100m semi-finals when it was revealed she had tested positive for human growth hormone in an out-of-competition test in Slovakia prior to the games.
On Monday, after Lira pleaded guilty in a Manhattan federal court, US Attorney Damian Williams described the case as a "watershed moment for international sport."
"Lira provided banned performance-enhancing substances to Olympic athletes who wanted to corruptly gain a competitive edge," said Williams.
He added that such attempts to undermine the integrity of sport subvert the Olympic games' purpose of displaying athletic excellence through fair competition and that "Lira's efforts to pervert that goal will not go unpunished."
The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. A judge will determine Lira's sentence at a later date, according to the Justice Department statement.
US anti-doping officials praised Lira's conviction, highlighting that it was only possible due to the recently enacted law.
Travis Tygart, the CEO of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, a nonprofit, said, "Without this law, Lira, who held himself out as a doctor to athletes, likely would have escaped consequence for his distribution of dangerous performance-enhancing drugs and his conspiracy to defraud the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games because he did not fall under any sport anti-doping rules."
