British relay team have their medals taken away after CJ Ujah returned a positive drugs test following final in Tokyo
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Published 18/02/2022 at 21:49 GMT
Team GB had to settle for silver after just being pipped on the line by Italy in the Olympic final, but they now have no medal to show for their efforts after CAS ruled they should be stripped following CJ Ujah's positive drugs test. Ujah has apologised but Kilty struggled to accept his explanation, saying "you are responsible for everything that goes into your body".
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British athlete Richard Kilty says he is heartbroken after finding out that his Olympic silver medal will be stripped from him because of a failed doping test by his team-mate CJ Ujah.
Kilty – along with Ujah, Zharnel Hughes and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake – finished one-hundredth of a second behind Italy to take second place in the 4x100m relay in Tokyo last year.
After the event Ujah was immediately tested, with the results showing that he had tested positive for ostarine, which is used to treat muscle wasting and osteoporosis, and S-23, which promotes muscle growth and bone health.
With the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruling that the quartet should lose their medals, Kilty admitted the decision is difficult to take.
Speaking to BBC Radio Tees Sport, the 32-year-old said: "I feel sad all round. It's just a devastating situation.
"It's absolutely heartbreaking to finally hear the news that the medal is going to be stripped and wiped from history."
For Kilty, the loss of his medal is about more than his own personal pride.
"The happiness for me was to win an Olympic medal and give it to my son for him to take it into school and say: 'My dad won an Olympic medal.' I never got to do that.
"The motivation is for the next two and a half years to make sure that job gets done properly next time."
After the release of the news Ujah issued an apology, saying the situation is one he "will regret for the rest of my life". The length of his ban is yet to be decided by the Athletics Integrity Unit.
As Kilty comes to terms with the decision, his thoughts now turn to glory in Paris in two years' time and, whoever he teams up with, he has a clear message for them: obey the rules.
"We get that hammered home by British Athletics and UK Anti-Doping," he said. "They are the rules you have to follow and I have for the last 21 years.
"It's just devastating that other team-mates haven't followed the rules as strictly as the rest of us. And we've been burned by that.
"I am glad CJ has apologised to us, our families and the whole set-up. I'm thankful for the apology but on the other hand the rules are rules.
"When you become a professional athlete, the main thing you sign up for is you are on a one-hour curfew for the rest of your life to provide the address and time you will be available for testing. You are responsible for everything that goes into your body – everything. You have to be accountable for that.
It doesn't go through your mind once and it never crossed my mind ever that one of our members failed a test, not in a million years.
Asked whether he thinks Ujah purposefully sought an advantage, Kilty said: "Only CJ knows the truth. Either he took drugs or it was contaminated in his supplements which weren't tested. Either one is not following the rules. So it's his mistake, he's owned up to it. I'm sure he's very regretful for not following the rules as strictly as he should have done."
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