First person charged under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act

To optimise for archiving, the original image and related documents associated with this article have been removed.

An American has become the first person to be charged under the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act after allegedly supplying performance enhancing drugs to Olympic athletes.

The Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act came into force in 2020 and it named after Grigory Rodchenkov who led Russia’s state doping programme before turning whistle blower. The Act allows criminal charges to be brought against those found to have committed anti-doping rule violations.

Eric Lira is the first to be charged under the Act after he allegedly distributed human growth hormones and EPO to athletes before the Tokyo Games. Messages between Lira and multiple athletes via encrypted messages were discovered with one athlete testing positive for the human growth hormone and being provisionally suspended on 30 July 2021.

Lira faces a maximum of 10 years in prison with FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscoll saying “We allege Mr. Lira knew he was breaking the rules when he communicated with Olympians through an encrypted messaging app to hide his illegal activity. It's not winning if you take illegal substances - it's cheating, and Mr. Lira will now be forced to face the consequences of his alleged criminal actions.”

You may also like

View All

Chinese swimmers top anti-doping tests as World Championships begin in Singapore

Chinese swimmers have undergone more anti-doping tests this year than swimmers from any other country ahead of the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore this month, according to a report by the Aquatics Integrity Unit

Read More

The Open to employ Spidercam on 18th green at Portrush

For the first time in golf history, The Open will utilise Spidercam technology, and it will be used on the 18th green at the Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland

Read More

ECHR declares Semenya was violated by Swiss Supreme Court

Europe’s top court, the European Court of Human Rights, has declared that DSD athlete and double 800m Olympic champion Caster Semenya was not given the right to a fair hearing by the Swiss Federal Supreme Court in 2020 after World Athletics barred her from competing

Read More