LONDON — The 4×100-meter relay team from Britain was stripped of their silver medal from Tokyo in one of Britain’s most scandalous doping cases. C.J. The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed Ujah’s doping offense on Friday.
Ujah was among the quartet that included Richard Kilty, Zharnel Hughes and Nethaneel Mitchel-Blake. They finished second to Italy by 0.01 seconds in August in a close race. However, a sample of Ujah’s urine taken after the race in Tokyo revealed that it contained the banned substances ostarine (muscle-building selective androgen receptor modators) and S-23 (muscle-building selective androgen receptor stimulators).
Canada will receive silver status, while China will take bronze.
Ujah didn’t contest the anti-doping rule violations, but his claim that he unknowingly consumed a contaminated product was rejected. The Athletics Integrity Unit has now suspended Ujah and he is awaiting a decision.
Ujah released a statement saying that he would like to apologize for the damage done to his teammates, their families, and support team. “I am sorry that this has caused my teammates to lose the medals which they so diligently worked for and which they so richly deserved. It is something that I will regret for my entire life.”
Only twice has Britain been stripped of Olympic medals, both times being in bronze. Judoka Kerrith Brown, who claimed to have no idea that the drug was banned, produced a positive result for a diuretic in the 1988 Seoul Games. A banned stimulant methamphetamine found in Alain Baxter’s sample from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games was also detected after he had used a nasal inhaler.
Ujah’s actions were not defended by the British Olympic Association.
We are grateful for his repentance. The BOA released a statement saying that this should be a message to anyone, British or not, who doesping or considers doping as a way to boost their athletic performance. You will be caught. You will not be accepted on our team, nor are you representative for our values or our nation.
After the Rio de Janeiro Games 2016, Tokyo was Britain’s second most successful overseas Olympics. Britain was unable to match the 65 medal haul from the London home games 2012, due to losing a medal.
The BOA stated that all athletes, regardless of their origin, should be able to walk to the start line confidently knowing they are competing in clean competition. “It was with deep sadness that Ujah’s opponents and colleagues were not able reassure each other of this fact in Tokyo.”
