Britain’s Olympic boss has reacted to Team GB being stripped of a medal by calling for drugs cheats to be banned from ever representing the country.
Andy Anson says he could cry for the innocent athletes robbed of their greatest sporting moment by CJ Ujah’s doping conviction.
The BOA chief executive read Richard Kilty’s heartbroken reaction to having to give back his Tokyo relay silver.
He admitted: “If it was down to me personally someone found guilty of a doping offence would never compete for Team GB again.
“I’m not sure legally I’d always win that battle but that’s how I feel about it. We’ve got to feel like that, right? We’ve got to be able to sit here and say we’re doing something about it.”
Ten years ago the Court of Arbitration for Sport over-ruled the BOA’s lifetime ban for drugs cheats as it was at odds with the World Anti-Doping Agency code.
So while Kilty, Zharnel Hughes and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake must join Ujah in giving back the sprint relay silver medal they won last summer, it does not spell the end for the guilty one.
Teeside star Kilty told how his dream of his son taking his Olympic medal into school had been shattered by a team mate whom, he says, he can never forgive.
“Reading the Richard Kilty stuff makes you want to cry,” Anson added. “It’s horrendous for the poor guy.
“We take that as seriously as we possibly can. We don’t want it to happen again. We want to send out the clearest possible message that it’s unacceptable.
“I don’t think it’s damaged the whole sport. There were so many fantastic performances in Tokyo and it would be horrendous if they were tarnished in any way by the actions of one individual.
“However, if we’re going to sit here and criticise the Russians for the Kamila Valieva case we need to be as tough as we possibly can when doping happens in the UK.”
Britain ended a poor Winter Olympic campaign here on a glorious note with the women curlers adding gold to the men’s silver of 24 hours earlier.
But the Games will be remembered for the mistreatment of 15-year old Kamila Valieva, who arrived as a superstar and left utterly broken.
“The Valieva stuff is horrific,” said Anson, who revealed that the BOA had pushed the IOC to investigate the Russian’s entourage.
“The investigation into everyone around her needs to be thorough and go as deep as it possibly can as what happened there was completely unacceptable.”
