Team GB hands back men's 4x100 silver medals after doping ruling

Ujah’s test was found to have the prohibited substances ostarine and S-23, commonly used to build muscle, in a sample he gave at the Olympics.

Team GB hands back men's 4x100 silver medals after doping ruling
The British men’s 4×100 relay team

The British men’s 4×100 relay team has handed back their silver medals from the Tokyo Olympics after Chijindu Ujah tested positive for a banned substance, the British Olympic Association (BOA) said Thursday.

Ujah’s test was found to have the prohibited substances ostarine and S-23, commonly used to build muscle, in a sample he gave at the Olympics.

Ujah and teammates Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake finished second behind Italy last August by just one hundreth of a second but were stripped of the silver in February after a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) ruling.

“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,” BOA CEO Andy Anson said.

“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.”

The silver medals will be redistributed to the third-place team, Canada, with China moving into bronze medal position.

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 U.K. Anti-Doping had “hammered home” their rules, asking athletes not to use uncertified supplements.