A Nigerian sprinter, Ejowvokoghene Divine Oduduru, who specialized in the 100-meter and 200-meter dash, has disclosed that he attempted to commit suicide four times.

Oduduru who disclosed this in a post shared on his Facebook page, holds personal bests of 9.86 seconds for the 100 m and 19.73 seconds for the 200 m. The latter is a Nigerian national record.

In October 2023, a disciplinary tribunal of the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) handed Divine Oduduru, a six-year ban for breaching two anti-doping rules.

AIU had in a statement announcing the ban said that issued a four-year ban for the possession of prohibited substances and the attempted use of a prohibited substance and an additional two years for “aggravating circumstances”.

He was also ordered to pay $3000 to the World Athletics for its expenses regarding the case.

However, in a post shared on his Facebook, Oduduru said that he had been quiet all this time because of his mental health, thanking his lovely fans who had been supporting him right from the beginning of his career.

He announced that he was working to come back and would be granting interview to tell his side of the story.

He wrote: "Thanks to everyone, to my lovely fans who have been supporting me right from the beginning of my career.

"I know a lot of you have been waiting to hear from me about the issue that happened. I have been quiet all this time due to my mental health.

"I attempted suicide 4 times, just wanted to end everything, because all this things that happened is still a shock to me. After all the years of sacrifice.

"I will be granting interviews and I am working on coming life on my Instagram to tell my side of what happened."