Great Britain will lose its Olympic 4x100m silver medal after CJ Udah's B-sample returned positive for a banned substance.
Last month, Ujah was suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) after a sample taken in Tokyo "returned an adverse analytical finding" for ostarine, a substance not cleared for human use or consumption.
The 27-year old sprinter ran the lead leg as Great Britain came home second behind Italy in a time of 37.51.
On Tuesday, the International Testing Agency (ITA) revealed that Ujah's B-sample also tested positive for ostarine. The B-sample analysis was conducted by the WADA-accredited laboratory of Tokyo on August 19.
Ujah's B-sample testing positive means that both he and his teammates (Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake) will be stripped of their silver medal.
Canada look set to be promoted from bronze as a result, with China's fourth place finish now good enough for bronze.
Ujah's case was referred to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on September 8.
International Testing Agency statement:
The ITA confirms that as per the athlete’s request, the B-sample analysis was carried out by the WADA-accredited laboratory of Tokyo on 19 August 2021 and the procedure confirmed the result of the A-sample.
The ITA has thus referred the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport Anti-Doping Division (“CAS ADD”) on 8 September 2021. The CAS ADD will consider the matter of the finding of an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) and the disqualification of the Men’s 4 x 100 Relay results of the Great Britain team.
In this regard, pursuant to the IOC ADR and the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules: “where the athlete who has committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation competed as a member of a relay team, the relay team shall be automatically disqualified from the event in question, with all resulting consequences for the relay team, including the forfeiture of all titles, awards, medals, points and prize and appearance money”.
Once the matter is settled under the IOC ADR, the case will be referred to the Athletics Integrity Unit (World Athletics) to follow up on sanctions beyond the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.
