Richard Kilty insists “it’s f***ing bulls**t” that Reece Prescod has publicly forgiven CJ Ujah for a failed drugs test to cost Great Britain an Olympic silver medal.
Prescod ran in the 100m for Team GB at Tokyo 2020, but was only a reserve for the 4x100m relay team.
Prescod revealed that after a recent conversation he is now “cool” with Ujah, who returned a positive test after banned substances ostarine and S23 were found in his urine.
Ujah, who is facing a four-year ban from the sport, maintains his innocence, blaming the failed test on a contaminated supplement.
But Ujah’s failed test meant Kilty, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Zharnel Hughes had their silver medals rescinded, and the former World Indoor 60m champion has dismissed Prescod’s comments.
“Reece is not in a position to forgive anybody because he hasn’t lost a medal,” Kilty said after a DNF for Great Britain’s 4x100m relay at the Birmingham Diamond League. “It’s f***ing bulls**t what he said to be honest, it’s as simple as that.
“I’m not going to be politically correct. People say that the sport needs more honesty, but he hasn’t lost an Olympic medal, would he say that if he lost an Olympic medal? You know what I mean?”
Despite his refusal to forgive Ujah, Kilty maintains the team is in a good place and that he remains inspired to claim glory this summer, with opportunities for more medals at a home Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, plus World and European Championships.
“It hasn’t been hard emotionally to get back up,” Kilty added. “Because it’s inspired me to press on for the next couple of years.
“And to round everybody together. We are always winning medals and breaking records, and we can do that, so it gives us motivation. There’s nothing more heartbreaking than losing an Olympic medal, but we can go out there and win gold.
“I don’t like to run angry, there’s nobody to take out on, these are my friends. We run better when we’re happy and right now it’s a very happy squad.
“No matter what has happened. I’m not boxing, although… Everybody knows how I feel. Anybody who has lost an Olympic medal, it’s heartbreaking.
“People can’t understand that until they’ve gone through it themselves. Only me, Zharnel and Nathaneel know that. We’re all part of it. Move on, be confident, be happy, be relaxed, you can’t dwell on that now.”
Meanwhile, Adam Gemili, who has assumed the first leg with Ujah’s absence, insists it is “very hard” for both himself and Prescod to fully understand the hurt experienced by their teammates.
But the 28-year-old, who was a world champion with the British 4x100 team five years ago, is bullish about the hopes for this year’s team.
“We can all improve. Look at Canada’s winning time [38.31], how fast they’re running individually, Andre [de Grasse], my training partner, they’re all flying, and we were winning,” Gemili said.
“If the baton gets in, we’ll pull away. It’s a good start, we need more consistency and more training, but the times will come.
“We’ll go out there put it behind us, win a medal, win the Worlds, Commonwealths and Europeans. That should be our aim. Nothing will ever make up for it, it’s heartbreaking, even for me, I didn’t run. Seeing the guys, how hard they worked. We’ve just got to move on and build together as a team and stay as a unit.
“This is my first run-out, it’s been a good winter. I haven’t done any speed work, I’ve been hitting the endurance hard, obviously a lot of champs this year. Speed will come closer to the champs. I’ll go back to Florida, work on my speed, come back to the trials and be ready to run.
“I probably know as much as these guys, it’s heartbreaking, we are friends and we do hang out off the track. And to see your friends lose an Olympic medal, it’s tough. It’s almost like you can say it’s a happy medium, if they’d won the gold and this had happened, it’d have been even more heartbreaking, but any medal, it’s horrible to see. You have to be there for them. Checking in with each other. We put it behind us and we move on.”
