The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed that British sprinter CJ Ujah’s Tokyo 2020 sample contained two banned substances.
Team GB has been stripped of the silver medal its men’s 4×100-meter relay won at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) confirmed that sprinter CJ Ujah’s test sample showed traces of two banned substances.
Ujah’s sample was taken after the event in August, when he ran alongside teammates Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty, and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake. According to CAS, traces were found of two banned performance-enhancing substances that help to build muscles – Ostarine and S-23.
Ujah has not challenged the ruling but insisted he was unaware he took the banned substances, which the CAS did not accept. As a consequence, he is suspended from competition and may also receive a ban from the Athletics Integrity Unit.
Ujah apologized to his teammates, their families and teams for “the impact which this has had on them.”
“I’m sorry that this situation has cost my teammates the medals they worked so hard and so long for, and which they richly deserved. That is something I will regret for the rest of my life,” the 27-year-old former junior 100m world champion said.
Kilty told BBC Radio Tees Sport that he felt sad about the “devastating situation”.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking to finally hear the news that the medal is going to be stripped and wiped from history,” he added.
“The happiness for me was to win an Olympic medal and give it to my son for him to take it into school and say ‘my dad won an Olympic medal’.
“I never got to do that. The motivation is for the next two and a half years to make sure that job gets done properly next time [at Paris 2024].”
Team GB's CJ Ujah releases statement following decision issued by CAS today: "I accept the decision issued by the Court of Arbitration for Sport today with sadness. I would like to make it clear that I unknowingly consumed a contaminated supplement & this was the reason… (1/2)
— Donald Smith (@dpos_smith) February 18, 2022
why an anti-doping rule violation occurred at the Tokyo Olympic Games. " (2/2)
— Donald Smith (@dpos_smith) February 18, 2022
Strong statement from the British Olympic Association after CJ Ujah was found to have two banned substances in his urine sample. pic.twitter.com/K1L7EIsIzo
— Sean Ingle (@seaningle) February 18, 2022
Team GB finished second to Italy in the race, ahead of bronze winners Canada and fourth-placed China.
Ujah’s case is the third time that a Team GB athlete or team has been stripped of a medal.
Judoka Kerrith Brown failed a drug test at the 1988 Seoul Games, as did skier Alain Baxter at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
