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

Career uncertainty forces Australian netballers to change their sport

Australian netballers are increasingly turning to the women’s Australian Football League for more viable careers

Read More

First woman to umpire regular-season MLB game

Jen Pawol will become the first woman to umpire in a regular-season Major League Baseball game

Read More

Chinese football club Shandong handed 2-year ban and a $890K loss after ACL Elite withdrawal

Chinese football club Shandong Taishan has received a 2-year ban from Asian club competition and will forfeit around $890K after withdrawing from the Asian Champions League Elite in February, just hours before key match against South Korea’s Ulsan HD

Read More