After four suicide attempts, Oduduru finally ready to tell ‘my side of what happened’ in six-year doping ban

Nigeria 200m record holder, Divine Oduduru has confirmed he attempted to commit suicide four times after his six-year ban by the Athletics Integrity Unit, AIU, for committing two Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) of Possession of Prohibited Substances and the Attempted Use of a Prohibited Substance or Method.

The Nigerian was also ordered to pay World Athletics US$3000 towards its expenses regarding the case.

Oduduru’s case arose out of the criminal investigation into Eric Lira, a ‘naturopathic’ therapist operating principally in El Paso, Texas, USA, who in 2023 became the first person to plead guilty under the US Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act to providing performance enhancement drugs to Olympic athletes in advance of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Lira was accused of providing Blessing Okagbare with prohibited substances and methods and the legendary Nigerian sprinter was handed a cumulative 11-year ban.

In the complaint about Okagbare, references were made to two athletes, Athlete 1 and Athlete 2.

The AIU concluded that ‘Athlete-1’ was Okagbare and, following an interview with Oduduru, in May 2022, the AIU concluded that Oduduru was ‘Athlete-2’ mentioned in the Okagbare case.

‘To procure those substances, he engaged into a scheme with his teammate who in her turn was procuring those substances on his behalf from a person who was illegally bringing them to US in order to distribute among athletes with the aim to improve their sport performance, thus influencing unfairly the outcome of athletic competitions, including the major ones.

‘The Panel considers this behaviour to be particularly serious,’ the decision of the three-man disciplinary panel that slammed a six year ban on Oduduru read.

Oduduru has long denied that he did not know Lira and that Okagbare did not act as the go-between for him with Lira.

‘Thanks to everyone, to my lovely fans who have been supporting me right from the beginning of my career. I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear from me about the issue that happened.

‘I have been quiet all this time due to my mental health. I attempted suicide 4 times, just wanted to end everything, because all this things that happened is still a shock to me. After all the years of sacrifice.

‘I will be granting interviews and I am working on coming life on my Instagram to tell my side of what happened,’ wrote Oduduru on his social media pages.