Josephine Onyia

Who is Josephine Onyia?

Josephine Onyia Nnkiruka is a Nigerian-born Spanish track and field athlete who specializes in the 100 metres hurdles. She represented Spain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

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. She competed in the hurdles at the Summer Olympics and just missed the final after finished fifth in the semi-finals. She was the gold medallist 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. 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.