'CJ' Ujah has been suspended by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) after testing detected two banned substances in his samples taken in Tokyo, Ostarine and S-23, two banned steroids suspected of making it easier to take muscles, after the 4x100m final on August 6, 2021.

"CJ" Ujah, 27, and his teammates - Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake - had finished in second place behind Italy and ahead of Canada, which should therefore move up to 2nd place and China , who should she get the Olympic bronze.

"I accept the CAS decision with sadness," Ujah responded in a statement released by the English athletics federation UK Athletics.

"I would like to clarify the fact that I unknowingly consumed a contaminated food supplement and that is the reason why an anti-doping rule was violated during these Tokyo Olympics," said the athlete.

Apologies

"I would like to apologize to my teammates, their families and their teams for the consequences this has had for them," he added.

"I'm sorry this takes away their medal which they worked so hard for so long and so richly deserve. It's something I will regret for the rest of my life."

The silver obtained by Great Britain during the Tokyo Olympics, behind the surprising Italian team led by Marcell Jacobs (Olympic champion in the 100m, editor's note), completed a surprising podium at the end of a final disputed without the great American favorite eliminated in the playoffs.

The British quartet (from L. to r.) Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Richard Kilty, Chijindu Ujah and Zharnel Hughes silver medalists in the 4x100m relay at the Tokyo Games, August 6, 2021 Ben STANSALL AFP / Archives

The revelation of the positive control of CJ "Ujah" just after the Tokyo Olympics, coupled with poor results during this Olympiad, had plunged the British athletics federation into turmoil, with the resignations of its general manager and its director of performance.

The anti-doping rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Athletics Federation (World Athletics) provide for the automatic disqualification of any relay team if one of its members is convicted of violating said rules.

It is for the moment the only medal withdrawn for doping at the end of the Tokyo Olympics, an announcement which comes on the same day that the Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare was heavily sanctioned with 10 years for doping, excluded from the Tokyo Olympics. Tokyo ahead of the 100m semi-finals.

This is not the first time that a medal has been withdrawn from a 4x100m relay because one of its members tested positive: this was the case for men in 2008 with Jamaica (gold), in 2012 with the Americans (silver), and, among women, in 2008 with the Russians (gold).

Medals were also taken from two sprint stars, Canadian Ben Johnson and American Marion Jones.

© 2022 AFP