A male British athlete is reportedly under investigation by anti-doping authorities after becoming embroiled in the case against American therapist Eric Lira.

The identity of the individual has not been made public but the Athletics Integrity Unit is looking at the matter, according to The Times, which quotes court papers lodged in the Southern District of New York.

Lira is facing jail time after pleading guilty to supplying performance-enhancing drugs to Olympians and a submission said to have been made by attorney Damian Williams lists a competitor from the United Kingdom as ‘Athlete 3’ in the case.

Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare, who was banned from athletics last year after a positive test emerged during the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, is understood to be ‘Athlete 1’, while another unnamed Swiss athlete is also referenced.

The letter from Williams to the sentencing judge, which has also been seen by the BBC, states: “Athlete 1 was not the only Olympic competitor who received PEDs (performance-enhancing drugs) from Lira.

“Lira separately met with a third Olympic athlete who competed on behalf of the United Kingdom (Athlete 3) multiple times in the summer of 2021 for the purpose of providing him with PEDs.

“In short, Lira travelled across the United States to deliver and/or administer various drugs to various Olympic athletes, all with the calculated aim of impacting the outcome of the Tokyo Olympics.”

Uk Athletics declined to comment and the PA news agency has approached the Athletic Integrity Unit for a response.

Jamaican Olympian Christopher Taylor has revealed uncertainty over his future as a track and field athlete following the 30-month ban imposed on him by the Athletics Integrity Unit. The 24-year-old Taylor, a finalist in the 400m at the Tokyo Olympics, was charged with evading, refusing or failing to submit a sample and was banned effective November 16, 2022.

His period of ineligibility will end on May 15, 2025, when Taylor will be 26 years old.

Taylor, speaking with Nationwide Radio (NNN), expressed his frustration at the reality that he will miss almost three years of his career when he will be at his peak.

“I haven’t made a decision about my future as yet but deep down I don’t feel I belong in this sport anymore because of the whole experience I had, I don’t think I have a place in this sport anymore,” he said.

The incident occurred during an Out-of-Competition Testing attempt in Kingston, Jamaica, on November 16, 2022, where Taylor failed to submit to sample collection as required by the Whereabouts information provided.

According to the NNN report, the 2018 World U20 400m silver medalist claims that the doping control officers arrived at his home shortly before 6:00 am when he was about to leave for the airport for an 8:00 am flight and was in the process of filing new whereabouts information since he was leaving the location he had initially entered into the Anti-Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS).

He claims the doping control officers informed him that since he did not complete the update overnight they would have to go through with testing him. He said he takes the blame for believing that if he did not allow the officers to test him, it would only go down as a missed test for which there would be no sanction.

Athletes have to have three missed tests for it to be considered an anti-doping violation.

Taylor’s actions initiated an AIU investigation, and on January 10, 2023, they informed Taylor of the potential failure to comply, issuing a Notice of Investigation. Taylor, through his legal representative, expressed a willingness to discuss an admission of committing an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) without prejudice. Consequently, he accepted a Provisional Suspension starting from January 19, 2023.

During an interview with AIU representatives on February 2, 2023, Taylor provided his explanation for the circumstances surrounding the possible failure to comply. The AIU conducted additional follow-up inquiries, leading to the issuance of a Notice of Allegation of ADRV on May 25, 2023, specifically for evading, refusing, or failing to submit to sample collection.

On June 1, 2023, Taylor confirmed his request to discuss an admission of committing an ADRV without prejudice. The AIU, Taylor, and the World Anti-Doping Agency entered into a Case Resolution Agreement, whereby Taylor admitted to the ADRV, leading to a 30-month period of ineligibility starting from the violation date, November 16, 2022, until May 15, 2025.

Additionally, Taylor's competitive results from November 16, 2022, until January 19, 2023, are disqualified, including the forfeiture of any associated medals, points, and prize money/prizes.

Jamaican 400m runner Christopher Taylor has been suspended for 30 months by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), SportsMax.tv has learned.

Earlier this year, Taylor was charged by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) for violating the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Anti-Doping Code Article 2.3, after a six-month investigation determined that the 23-year-old evaded a doping test in November 2022.

WADA Anti-Doping Code Article 2.3 states: "Evading, Refusing or Failing to Submit to Sample Collection. The Evading Sample collection, or without compelling justification, refusing or failing to submit to Sample collection after notification as authorised in applicable anti-doping rules."

Taylor was reportedly contacted in November 2022 by anti-doping officials who had turned up to conduct a test at the location that he had indicated on his whereabouts form.

However, when the officials arrived, Taylor was not at the listed location and had not updated his whereabouts information. Instead, Taylor was at the Norman Manley International Airport, waiting to catch a flight that had previously been booked on his behalf.

Athletes who are a part of the registered testing pool are required to provide certain information, which is used by anti-doping organisations to locate athletes for out-of-competition testing.

If an athlete is deemed to have violated WADA Anti-Doping Code Article 2.3 which speaks to "Evading, Refusing or Failing to Submit to Sample Collection", a two or four-year ban is mandatory.

One year of the 30-month suspension has already elapsed.

Taylor, a finalist at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo and the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, will be eligible to compete again as on May 2025.

He last competed in August 2022.

World 100m hurdles champion Tobi Amusan is in danger of missing out on the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest next month after being charged by World Athletics’ Athletics Integrity Unit with missing three anti-doping tests within a 12-month period. She has vowed to fight to clear her name in time to try and defend the title she won in Oregon a year ago.

The Nigerian champion, who is coached by Jamaican Olympian Lacena Golding-Clarke, has revealed that the AIU has slapped her with a charge that could see her suspended from the sport for up to two years.

"Today the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has charged me with an alleged rule violation for having 3 missed tests in 12 months,” she said. “I intend to fight this charge and will have my case decided by a tribunal of three arbitrators before the start of next month’s World Championships.”

Amusan holds the world record for the event and has been rounding into form after early season struggles with injury. On Tuesday, she followed her win in 12.34 at Sunday’s Diamond League meeting in Silesia with a 12.35 winning performance in Szekesfehervar, holding off 2019 world champion Nia Ali, who clocked 12.41 and Alaysha Johnson was third in 12.50.

She insists that she is innocent of the charges that the AIU has laid against her and expressed confidence that she will be cleared in short order.

“I am a CLEAN athlete, and I am regularly (maybe more than usual) tested by the AIU,” she wrote on Instagram. “I was tested within days of my third “missed test”. I have faith that this will be resolved in my favour and that I will be competing at the World Championships in August.”

Noted international sports attorney Dr. Emir Crowne believes the charge laid by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) against Jamaican quarter-miler Christopher Taylor is a case of over-reach.

The 23-year-old Olympic 400m finalist has been charged by the Athletics Integrity Unit with violating Article 2.3 of the World Anti-Doping Agency Code, which states: "Evading, Refusing or Failing to Submit to Sample Collection. The Evading Sample collection, or without compelling justification, refusing or failing to submit to sample collection after notification as authorized in applicable anti-doping rules.”

Taylor now faces a possible maximum penalty of a four-year ban from the sport.

According to reports, in November 2022, doping control officers (DCO’s) turned up at Taylor’s residence in Kingston to find that he was not there. When they called him, he informed them he was at the Norman Manley International Airport awaiting a flight to the United States that had been booked on his behalf.

The DCO’s turned up at the airport but Taylor was unable to produce a urine sample before his flight’s scheduled departure. He took the flight and as a consequence was deemed to have evaded the test.

However, according to Dr Crowne, the Canada-based Trinidadian attorney, the case against Taylor should not have been classified as such in the first place.

“Based on what’s in the public domain, I think, with all due respect, this is an over-reach by the anti-doping authorities. It’s a clear over-reach, quite frankly. The type of conduct envisioned by evasion and refusal and so on, is not the type of conduct at play here,” Dr Crowne opined.

“Here you have someone, who through failures of whereabouts information was boarding a plane. It’s not like he had power over the flight, power to stop the flight. Quite frankly, this should have been a whereabouts violation. This should not be an evasion or refusal allegation.”

Dr Crowne contends that the anti-doping authorities have to take some responsibility when athletes’ careers and reputations are in their hands.

“Here you have a young, black male Jamaican athlete and his career is on the line for what I genuinely believe is an over-reach by the anti-doping authorities. This is a whereabouts failure, at best,” he said.

“It’s not a refusal or evasion to board a scheduled flight that you had booked, That’s easily verifiable.

“I honestly hope that he gets the best outcome because the authorities have over-reached in this matter.”

Dr Crowne has successfully represented several Caribbean athletes in anti-doping matters over the past few years including Jamaica’s Briana Williams as well as quarter-miler Ryker Hylton.

He also represented 2019 World 400m champion Salwa Eid Naser in her whereabouts violation case in 2020.

Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare has been banned for 10 years by the Disciplinary Tribunal of the Athletics Integrity Unit.

The 33-year-old sprinter was banned for five years for the presence and use of multiple prohibited substances and five years for her refusal to co-operate with the AIU’s investigation into her case, the AIU said in a release on Friday.

According to the AIU, the sole arbitrator adjudicating the case concluded that the athlete’s use of multiple prohibited substances as part of an organized doping regimen in the lead up to the Tokyo Olympic Games was egregious conduct that amounted to aggravating circumstances under the Rules thereby warranting an additional period of ineligibility on top of the standard four-year sanction.

The sole arbitrator also recognized the AIU’s right to carry out investigations, including the imaging of electronic devices, and to impose sanctions when an athlete refuses to co-operate with an investigation and thereby frustrates the AIU’s ability to fulfil its mandate to protect the integrity of the sport of athletics.

In this instance, the sole arbitrator concluded that the athlete’s refusal to cooperate had denied the AIU the opportunity to discover evidence of possible further rule violations by her as well possible violations of the rules by others, for which he imposed an additional sanction of five years, the release said.

“We welcome the decision of the Disciplinary Tribunal; a ban of 10-year is a strong message against intentional and coordinated attempts to cheat at the very highest level of our sport. This is an outcome that was driven by our intelligence-led target testing as well as our commitment to investigate the circumstances behind a positive test,” said Brett Clothier, Head of the AIU.

On October 7, 2021, the AIU had pressed charges against Okagbare in relation to separate disciplinary matters.

First, for the presence and use of multiple (two) prohibited substances (human Growth Hormone (HGH) and recombinant erythropoietin (EPO)) for which Okagbare had been provisionally suspended on July 31, 2021, the day on which she had been scheduled to participate in the semi-finals of the Tokyo 2020 women’s 100m.

Subsequently, in accordance with Rule 12 of the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules, she was charged with a refusal to co-operate with the AIU’s investigation into her case. The athlete has the right to appeal against the Disciplinary Tribunal’s decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 30-days.

Briana Rollins-McNeal, the 2016 Rio Olympics 100m hurdles champion has been banned for five years by the Disciplinary Tribunal of the Athletics Integrity Unit starting August 15, 2020, for tampering with the results management process.

It was the second violation for the 2013 World Champion, having been banned for a year in 2016 by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) after missing three drugs tests - two of them after she forgot to update her whereabouts details when she was attending a fete of honour in her hometown and travelling to the White House to meet the President Barack Obama.

However, the athlete has filed an appeal before the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), which has stayed the sanction until they have heard her case. CAS will hear the full case and make a ruling before the start of this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo on July 23.

This will allow her to compete at the USA Olympic trials which end on June 27. Should CAS uphold the ban, Rollins-McNeal, 29, will be banned until August 2024, which means she would also miss the Olympic Games in Paris, France.