Drug-Supplier to Olympic Athletes Pleads Guilty in Doping Case

A Texas man admitted to providing performance-enhancing drugs to Olympic athletes before the 2021 games in Tokyo, becoming the first person convicted of a new anti-doping law.

Eric Lira, 43, a so-called “kinesiologist and naturopathic doctor” from El Paso, Texas, pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act, which bars knowingly influencing major international sporting competition through the use of a prohibited substance or method, the US Justice Department said.

The law, passed in 2021, was named for former Russian anti-doping laboratory head Grigory Rodchenkov, who fled the country after revealing a state-run program that led to ...