LONDON – British sprinter CJ Ujah said he was “shocked and devastated” after a positive drugs test that could see his country stripped of their Olympic silver medal in the 4x100m relay.
The 27-year-old ran the first leg of the final in Tokyo as Britain narrowly missed gold, but has been provisionally suspended after prohibited substances showed up in tests.
“To be absolutely clear, I am not a cheat,” Ujah said in a statement to the PA news agency according to Reuters.
“I have never and would never knowingly take a banned substance.”
On Thursday Ujah was informed of an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) from a test carried out during the Olympics, showing the presence/use of muscle-building ostarine and S-23.
Ujah’s relay team mates were Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, whose medals will also be at risk if the positive is confirmed.
In his statement, Ujah said: “I am completely shocked and devastated by this news. I love my sport and I know my responsibilities both as an athlete and as a team mate.
“I am respecting the formal processes and will not be making any further comment until it is appropriate to do so.”
Italy’s Olympic sprint champion, Lamont Marcell Jacobs, said he smiled after hearing that Ujah had been provisionally suspended for an anti-doping rule violation.
Surprise has been expressed at Jacobs’s performance in Tokyo, mostly by the British media, after he became the first Italian to win a 100m Olympic gold medal. Jacobs, 26, was the seen as an underdog before he powered to victory.
He has taken the insinuations in his stride. “The situation hasn’t touched me so much, I know the sacrifices and blows I went thorough to get here,” Jacobs was quoted saying in the Italian newspaper Tuttosport.
“Instead, I want to enjoy it 100%. Having seen the investigation into Ujah I would say that perhaps it’s better [for the British] to look closer to home before attacking others. It made me smile.”
