CJ Ujah ‘wishes’ he had been tested before Tokyo Olympics – How Amazon supplement caused positive drugs test
:focal(145x121:147x119)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2022/07/15/3411067-69701524-310-310.jpg)
Published 11/10/2022 at 07:45 GMT
British sprinter CJ Ujah has revealed a product from Amazon was the cause of his positive drugs test following Great Britian’s silver medal in the men’s 4x100m relay at last year’s Tokyo Olympics. Ujah tested positive for two banned substances, Ostarine and S-23, with Great Britain being stripped of their medals. He has been cleared of deliberately taking the substances by anti-doping authorities.
Tokyo chosen to host 2025 track world championships
CJ Ujah has revealed a £10 product from Amazon was the reason for his positive drugs test at the Tokyo Olympics after he was cleared of deliberately taking banned substances.
Ujah has been banned for 22 months, which has been backdated to August 6, 2021 – the date he failed his drugs test.
The 28-year-old says he had been unknowingly taking the contaminated supplement for weeks before the Olympics, but his final drugs test was in May 2021, nearly three months prior to competing at Tokyo.
“I think complacency set in,” he told The Guardian. “During the pandemic I relied a lot on Amazon, rather than using the people and resources around me. It was just convenient, with next-day delivery, and I didn’t think anything was wrong with it.
“Many athletes see supplement education as a box‑ticking exercise. While I’m not going to call anyone out, a lot of athletes use supplements that are not Informed Sport because they don’t think anything bad could happen to them – until it does.”
He added: “You know what? I wish I had been tested right before the Olympics, so that I never went. That way, I would never have put these other three guys, my team-mates, through what they went through as well as myself.”
Great Britain were stripped of their silver medals in the men’s 4x100m relay with Ujah’s team-mate Richard Kilty labelling the behaviour as “sloppy and reckless”.
Ujah, who can return to competition from June 5, 2023, states he was a “firm believer that the truth would come out”.
“Reckless is a harsh word,” he said of Kilty’s reaction from earlier this year. “I saw the criticism from Kilty and I can’t blame him. He’s got a family. He’s got kids. So I do sympathise with him and understand the position he’s coming from.
“You do all these good things in your career and suddenly everything is put into question. It does hurt, especially when you train so hard to be the best. But I do get it. I’m not naive to the situation.”
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement