Josephine Onyia

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Josephine Onyia
Personal information
Full nameJosephine Onyia Nnkiruka
Born (1986-07-15) 15 July 1986 (age 39)
Lagos, Nigeria [1]

Josephine Onyia Nnkiruka (born 15 July 1986) is a Nigerian-born, Spanish track and field former athlete who specialized in the 100 metres hurdles.

Contents

In 2016, Onyia was issued with a lifetime ban after received a third anti-doping sanction. [2]

Career

She changed nationality from Nigeria to Spain in April 2007, following in the footsteps of another hurdler Glory Alozie. Her first medal as a Spaniard came at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Final, where she took the hurdles silver medal. She started the following season with a gold medal at the 2008 European Athletics Indoor Cup, but tripped at the last hurdle at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships and finished in last place. Onyia set a Spanish national record at the 2008 IAAF Golden League meet in ISTAF Berlin meeting, recording 12.50 seconds and improving upon her previous best by 14 hundredths of a second. [3] She competed in the hurdles at the Summer Olympics and just missed the final after finishing fifth in the semi-finals. In 2016, she was disqualified from the 2008 Olympics for doping, and her result was annulled after her 2008 sample was re-tested and failed. [4]

She was the gold medalist at the 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final later that season. However, she tested positive for methylhexaneamine at the 2008 Athletissima meeting and also clenbuterol at the World Athletics Final. Real Federación Española de Atletismo, the Spanish athletics body, decided not to sanction the athlete as she had tested negative twice around the time of the positive clenbuterol test. However, the IAAF intervened and took the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The CAS upheld the IAAF's appeal and Onyia was suspended for two years and her recent past results were annulled, effectively removing her of all her achievements as a senior athlete. The two separate positive tests were treated as one single breach of the doping rules as she had not been informed of the first until after the second positive test. She received a two-year competitive ban, set to expire on 10 November 2010. [5] [6]

She returned to competition in January 2011, taking an indoor win in Zaragoza. [7] She received a further doping suspension of two years after a failed test for dimethylpentylamine in July 2011. [8]

In August 2015 it was reported that Onyia had tested positive for anabolic steroids at the Spanish athletics championships and that she was pulled from the 2015 World Championships in Athletics [9] and subsequently received a lifetime ban. [2] [10]

Achievements

YearCompetitionVenuePositionNotes
2003 World Youth Championships Sherbrooke, Canada4th100 m hurdles
2007 World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany2nd100 m hurdles
2008 European Indoor Cup Moscow, Russia1st60 m hurdles
World Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 8th 60 m hurdles
Olympic Games Beijing, ChinaDQ (5th (semis)) 100 m hurdles
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, GermanyDQ (1st)100 m hurdles

References

  1. ↑ Josephine Onyia. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-02-01.
  2. 1 2 Brown, Andy (1 February 2026). "Spanish athlete banned for life after third ADRV". Sports Integrity Initiative.
  3. ↑ Arcoleo, Laura (2008-06-01). A relaxed Onyia takes surprise win and national record - ÅF Golden League. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-10-07.
  4. ↑ Nine athletes, including 6 medalists, caught for Beijing doping espn.com
  5. ↑ "La española Josephine Onyia, suspendida dos años por el TAS". El País (in Spanish). 7 October 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  6. ↑ "Athletics: Ban for Onyia". Sky Sports . 7 October 2009. Retrieved 7 October 2009.
  7. ↑ Valiente, Emeterio (2011-02-01). Menjo and Fernández excel in San Sebastián XC while Cáceres eyes indoor success – Spanish weekend round-up. IAAF. Retrieved on 2011-02-01.
  8. ↑ IAAF Sanctioned Athletes - 27 March 2012. IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-31.
  9. ↑ Onyia da positivo por cuarta vez, abc.es, 22 August 2015
  10. ↑ "des Tages leichtathletik". 28 January 2016. Archived from the original on 2 February 2016.
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