Nigerian sprinter Grace Nwokocha has completed a three-year ban for a doping offence and can now return to international competition.
The 24-year-old was part of Nigeria’s women’s 4x100m relay team that won gold at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, setting an African record of 42.10 seconds. She ran the final leg with Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili and Rosemary Chukwuma, beating England’s Daryll Neita and Jamaica’s Elaine Thompson-Herah.
However, Nwokocha later tested positive for Ostarine and Dihydroxy-LGD4033, a banned substance under the Commonwealth Games Federation’s anti-doping rules. The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) provisionally suspended her on 21 August 2022, and in March 2023, the Commonwealth Games Federation Court found her guilty of anti-doping violations.
She accepted the decision in a Case Resolution Agreement, with her ban backdated to 3 August 2022 and ending on 2 August 2025.
As a result, Nigeria lost the relay gold medal. England were awarded first place, Jamaica moved up to second, and Australia to third.
The suspension meant Nwokocha missed several major events, including the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest, the 2024 African Senior Championships, the 2023 African Games, the Paris 2024 Olympics, and the upcoming 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
Her first chance to compete in a major championship will be at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
Before her ban, Nwokocha was one of Nigeria’s most promising sprinters. She won bronze at the 2019 African Junior Championships, claimed double sprint gold at the 2021 National Sports Festival in Edo State, and reached the semi-finals of the 100m and 200m at both the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the Oregon 2022 World Championships.
She ranks sixth on Nigeria’s all-time list in the women’s 100m with a personal best of 10.97 seconds and seventh in the 200m with 22.44 seconds.
In January 2022, she joined North Carolina A&T University in the United States and was named the school’s Women’s Track Athlete of the Year later that season.