US man pleads guilty to Tokyo Games doping charges

NEW YORK: A man that US prosecutors charged with supplying performance-enhancing drugs to athletes at the Tokyo Olympics pleaded guilty on Monday (May 8), a spokesman for the US Attorney's Office Southern District of New York said.

Eric Lira, 43, last year became the first individual charged under the Rodchenkov Act, a federal law that allows criminal charges against doping conspirators at events involving US athletes, broadcasters and sponsors.

Prosecutors said that Lira, who was arrested in January 2022, distributed drugs, including human growth hormone, to athletes competing at the 2020 Tokyo Games, which were held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He had previously pleaded not guilty. Lira could face as many as 10 years in prison, but would likely get less under his plea agreement.