Jacobs taunts British athletics over Ujah’s ‘positive drug test’
Italian 100m Olympic winner says the news made him ‘smile’ UK sprinter has the option to provide a B sample for analysis
Lamont Marcell Jacobs, the surprise Italian winner of the men’s 100metres at the Olympic Games, has said news of CJ Ujah’s alleged doping breach made him “smile” as he told British sport to “look at your own situation first before attacking others”. Britain’s 4x100m relay team face being stripped of their silver medals after Ujah was suspended for an alleged anti-doping breach less than a week after the Tokyo Games finished.
Italy pipped Britain to gold by 0.01sec to give Jacobs his second success of the Games after he stormed to victory in the sport’s blue riband event.
However, there was immediate scrutiny over Jacobs’s victory after it emerged his former sports nutritionist, Giacomo Spazzini, a professional bodybuilder, was the subject of a police investigation into alleged use of anabolic steroids to alter athletic performance.
Jacobs, who stunned the athletics world at the Tokyo Olympics when he ran a European record of 9.80sec to claim sprint gold, confirmed he had separated from Spazzini earlier this year after being made aware of the probe. And while speaking about the allegations for the first time, he took a swipe at Britain after Ujah was alleged by the Athletics Integrity Unit to have tested positive during the Games for S-23 – Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators (SARMS), which aids muscle building, and Ostarine, an anabolic agent.
“Accusations of doping? The situation hasn’t really affected me that much, I know the sacrifices and the hardships I’ve gone through to get here and instead I want to enjoy it 100 per cent,” Jacobs told the Italian TV breakfast show, Unomattina.
“After seeing the investigation into Ujah, I’d say that maybe it’s better to look at your own situation first before attacking others. The whole thing makes me smile.”
Meanwhile, Hugh Robertson, the chair of the British Olympic Association, described Ujah’s alleged breach as “intensely disappointing news” as the runner and his teammates, Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-blake, faced the prospect of losing their medals. “The athlete, of course, remains innocent until proven guilty while the process goes on, but it’s a process that we at Team GB and indeed across sport must respect,” Robertson told BBC Radio 4’s Today.
Robertson had hailed Team GB’S operation at Tokyo 2020 a “remarkable success” as the remaining British athletes landed on home soil after finishing with 65 medals – although that number will be reduced if Ujah is found guilty.
Robertson also confirmed his team had spoken to Ujah since the announcement, but would not be drawn on the specifics of what was said. Under rules set by the International Testing Agency, which collected the positive sample on Aug 6 after competing in the men’s relay in Tokyo, Ujah has the right to provide a “B” sample for further analysis.
“We’ll wait to see whether that happens, as I say he remains innocent until proven guilty and then the process will take its course from there,” Robertson added.
Ujah, the 100m national champion, ran the first leg ahead of Hughes, Kilty and Mitchell-blake, the anchor-leg runner who was chased down by Italy’s Filippo Tortu. When asked about his feelings for the other members of the relay team, Robertson said: “You feel desperately sorry for them, but every single athlete who competes at an Olympic Games knows exactly what the rules are. We spend a lot of time and a lot of money educating athletes on the consequences of anti-doping. They know what the rules are, and they know what the consequences are if it goes wrong.”