My eternal regret, says Ujah

LONDON • A regretful Chijindu Ujah apologised to his teammates after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) upheld his anti-doping rule violation on Friday, meaning Britain is now stripped of its Olympic silver medal in the men's 4x100m relay in Tokyo last August.

Ujah has been provisionally suspended since ostarine and S-23 - both substances prohibited by World Anti-doping Agency - were detected in his A and B samples following the final.

In a statement on Friday, CAS said its anti-doping division had found that Ujah had committed an anti-doping rule violation and that his team's result from the relay on Aug 6 had been disqualified.

"Ujah is sanctioned with the disqualification of his results in the 4x100m sprint relay final... together with the forfeiture of any medals, diplomas, points and prizes," it said.

Ujah and his teammates Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake finished second behind Italy. Canada will now be upgraded to silver and China to bronze.

CAS acknowledged that Ujah had not challenged the decision in his written submissions to the hearing and that he claimed he had "not knowingly or intentionally doped".

The 27-year-old, who must now wait for the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) to determine the length of any ban, which could be as long as four years, said he was devastated.

"I unknowingly consumed a contaminated supplement and this was the reason why an anti-doping rule violation occurred at the Tokyo Olympic Games," Ujah said in a statement issued by UK Athletics (UKA) on Friday.

"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."

Kilty, 32, told the BBC that the loss of the silver medal was "heartbreaking", adding: "My motivation all through 2021 was to win an Olympic medal and give it to my son... and for him to take the medal into school and say, 'Look my dad's won an Olympic medal'.

"I never got to do that, because by the time he'd started school the announcement had come."

On Ujah, he added: "I'm thankful for the apology, but rules are rules. You are responsible for everything that goes into your body, you are accountable for that."

A spokesman said UKA would not comment on the case until the World Athletics/AIU process has been completed.

The British Olympic Association also apologised to the athletes who were upgraded to the silver-and bronze-medal positions.

"Having spent the last few years retrospectively awarding numerous British athletes with medals they should have won on the day at Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Sochi 2014, we understand first-hand the hurt and loss doping can cause," it said in a statement.

"We apologise to the athletes whose moment was lost in Tokyo."

In Tokyo, Britain failed to win a track and field gold for the first time since the 1996 Atlanta Games. Its overall medal haul now drops to 64, one fewer than the tally achieved at London 2012.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS