LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s men’s 4x100m relay team have been told to hand back their Tokyo 2020 silver medals after Chijindu Ujah’s doping violation, the British Olympic Association (BOA) said on Thursday.
Ujah and team mates Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake finished second behind Italy last August but were stripped of the silver in February after a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling.
Canada will now be upgraded to silver and China to bronze.
“It is with real sadness that we have had to ask for the medals, certificates and pins back, especially for the three athletes who have been affected through no fault of their own,” said BOA chief executive Andy Anson in a statement.
“However, this is the CAS ruling and we must abide by it, just as we have been clear that must happen to other nations whose athletes have broken doping rules.
“It is heart-breaking for Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Zharnel Hughes, but especially for Richard Kilty, who only competed in one event in Tokyo.”
Anson said the BOA had written to all three “to ensure they know their individual status is not diminished in the eyes of everyone at the BOA.”
Ujah claimed he had “not knowingly or intentionally doped” but Kilty said in February that British Athletics and UK Anti-Doping had “hammered home” their rules, asking athletes not to use uncertified supplements.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
