Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Joshua Lees

Richard Kilty on five-year-old son's heartbreaking reaction after Olympic medal stripped

Team GB sprinter Richard Kilty has revealed his five-year-old son’s heartbreaking reaction to having his Olympic silver medal from the Tokyo Games stripped.

Kilty was part of Great Britain’s 4x100m sprint relay team that won silver in Japan last year.

However, the 32-year-old and his GB teammates had their Olympic achievement taken away from them six months on, after CJ Ujah tested positive for banned substances Ostarine and S-23.

A decision made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last week confirmed that Great Britain would have their silver medals taken away, following Ujah’s violation.

Since the devastating news, Kilty has revealed the heartbreaking reaction from his five-year-old son when hearing about the decision.

Richard Kilty (pictured) had his Tokyo silver stripped after CJ Ujah's doping violation (PA)

Kilty, as quoted by The Sun , said: “When I finally brought the medal back he was so proud of it. He carries it around. I think he’ll probably understand it more in a year or two, when I can explain to him properly.

“My son goes to school now. My nieces, nephews, everyone comes up to me and even the kids at school say: ‘Dad has had his medal taken.’

“I don't even like dropping him off at school now because every parent in the schoolyard is talking to me. At times, I didn’t even want to leave the house. It was just exhausting trying to explain myself.

“And I had no idea because we didn’t hear nothing from CJ. He didn’t tell us. I didn’t hear anything. It was all confusing.”

Following last week’s confirmation, Ujah sent out an apology to Team GB and more closely his relay teammates, Kilty, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Zharnel Hughes.

This however was not enough for the 32-year-old, who went on to admit he would never forgive his teammate for his positive test.

What are your thoughts on Team GB being stripped of their medal? Let us know in the comments section

CJ Ujah tested positive for banned substances Ostarine and S-23 (PA)

Kilty said: “Now he’s [Ujah] made that mistake I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forgive him because me, Zharnel and Nethaneel have lost a medal at the hands of his mistakes.

“CJ is ultimately going to be the one who is going to get banned himself, it’s affecting his own career. But again we’ve worked so hard these last six years.

“To finally reach the pinnacle and win an Olympic medal, and then lose it because one person has just been sloppy and reckless with what's gone into their body. It's heartbreaking and devastating.”

GB's sprint relay team on the podium in Tokyo last summer after winning silver (Getty)

Kilty also revealed that the GB sprint team had a “zoom call from CJ roughly six weeks ago and that was it.”

Following the news, British Olympic bosses expressed their fury and BOA chief executive Andy Anson called for drugs cheats to be banned from ever representing their country.

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.”

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.