A 44-year-old therapist was sentenced to three months in prison on Wednesday for supplying performance-enhancing products to athletes competing in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Eric Lira, a 44-year-old therapist, was sentenced on Wednesday to three months in prison, announced U.S. prosecutors in Manhattan. The Texan had pleaded guilty to supplying banned doping products, including human growth hormone, to athletes ahead of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

“Today’s sentence sends a clear message: violating the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Law carries serious consequences up to and including incarceration,” he added. ” This message is particularly important this year, in the run-up to the Summer Olympics in Paris. “

Lira, who presented himself as a kinesiologist and naturopathic physician, is the first individual charged under the “Rodchenkov Act”, a federal law passed in 2020 enabling the US justice system to prosecute and impose prison sentences on all persons, regardless of nationality, involved in an international doping system.

Lira was also ordered to serve a year’s probation and pay a fine of 16,410 US dollars (15,170 euros).

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This post is from L’Equipe.