Following a whirlwind week that brought Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva’s doping scandal to the forefront, the British 4×100-meter relay team was stripped of its silver medal from the Tokyo Olympics on Friday.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed that sprinter CJ Ujah’s body had contained Ostarine and S-23, two banned, performance-enhancing drugs that build up muscles, when he competed this past August. The sample was taken right after he completed the relay alongside Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty, and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake.
Ujah did not challenge the violation but maintained he was unaware he consumed the prohibited substances, a claim the court did not accept. As a result of the doping violation, Ujah has been suspended from competition and may be banned by the Athletics Integrity Unit.
The 4×100 meter relay team was stripped of its medal from the 2020 Olympics. AP“I would like to apologize to my teammates, their families and support teams for the impact which this has had on them,” Ujah said in a statement. “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 British Olympic Association slammed Ujah’s actions in a statement.
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“We welcome his contrition. That said, this should act as a salutary message for anyone — British or otherwise — who is doping or considering doping as a way of boosting their athletic performance,” the BOA said. “You will get caught. You are not welcome on our team and nor are you representative of our values, or of our nation.”
“All athletes, wherever they are from, deserve to go to the start line knowing they are in clean competition,” the statement continued. “It is with deep sorrow that colleagues and opponents of Ujah were not able to be reassured of this fact in Tokyo.”
CJ Ujah’s doping violation was confirmed on Friday. Getty Images
The British team was 0.01 seconds behind gold medalist Italy. Canada, which came in third, will receive the silver medal for the event and China will receive bronze.
Previously, it was believed the Tokyo Games tied with the London Games as the Olympics in which Great Britain had the largest medal haul. Following the recent ruling, however, this is no longer the case and the Tokyo Olympics now stand as the second-largest haul with 65 medals.
