Chijindu "CJ" Ujah (born 5 March 1994) is a British athlete, specializing as a sprinter. The lead-off runner of the Great Britain

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

team that won both the World title in 2017 and the European title in 2016 and

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, he also won the title in the 100 metres at the 2017 Diamond League final. On 18 February 2022, it was announced that Ujah and his teammates

Zharnel Hughes Zharnel Hughes (born 13 July 1995) is an Anguilla-born British Sprint (running), sprinter who specialises in the 100 metres and 200 metres. Born and raised in the British Overseas Territory of Anguilla, he has competed internationally for Great ...

, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, and Richard Kilty would be stripped of their 4 × 100 metres relay 2020 Summer Olympics silver medals after

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

found Ujah guilty of a doping violation.

Early life and education

Chijindu Ujah was born in Enfield, London into a family who are originally from

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. He grew up in Enfield and has one older sibling. He attended St. Matthew's CE Primary School and Bishop Stopford's School alongside his brother. Chijindu went on to study at Sir George Monoux College, a

sixth form college A sixth form college (pre-university college in Malaysia) is an educational institution, where students aged 16 to 19 study typically for advanced post-school level qualifications such as GCE Advanced Level, A Levels, Business and Technology Edu ...

Walthamstow Walthamstow ( or ) is a town within the London Borough of Waltham Forest in east London. The town borders Chingford to the north, Snaresbrook and South Woodford to the east, Leyton and Leytonstone to the south, and Tottenham to the west. At ...

. He later graduated with a degree in sports science from

Middlesex University Middlesex University London (legally Middlesex University and abbreviated to MDX) is a public research university based in Hendon, northwest London, England. The university also has campuses in Dubai and Mauritius. The name of the university is ...

Career

Ujah is the fifth British sprinter to break 10 seconds for the 100 metres, and the youngest to do so, as of June 2014 he is ranked first on the all-time European under-20 list, and third on both the all-time British list and the all-time European under-23 list for the event with a fastest time of 9.96 (with a +1.4 tailwind), achieved at

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants dialect, Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the Twente region, in the province of Overijssel. It is part of a larger urban area that also includes Enschede, Borne, Overijssel, Borne, Almelo and Ol ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

on 8 June 2014. He is coached by Jonas Tawiah-Dodoo. In 2013, he became the European Junior Champion in the 100 m. At youth level, Ujah won the silver medal over 100 metres at the

2011 Commonwealth Youth Games The 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games, officially known as the IV Commonwealth Youth Games, and commonly known as Isle Of Man 2011, is a multi-sport event which took place from 7 to 13 September 2011 in the British Crown Dependency of the Isle of Man. ...

He also finished 8th in the IAAF World Youth Games 100 m. In 2012, he came 6th in the IAAF World Junior Championships 100 m. On 14 February 2015, Chijindu Ujah won the Sainsbury's Indoor British Championships 60 m with a time of 6.57 seconds. At the 2016 Summer Olympics from Rio de Janeiro, he failed to make the final of the 100 metres by 0.01 seconds. He ran the first leg in the 4 × 100 metres relay for Great Britain, the gold medal winning team at the 2017 World Championships in London on 12 August. Two weeks later, he won his first global individual title, winning the 2017 IAAF Diamond League title over 100 metres in 9.97 seconds.

Doping ban

At the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, he was awarded a silver medal for the 4 × 100 men's relay event. He was later provisionally suspended for an alleged doping violation after his doping test showed the presence of a prohibited substance S-23 and

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. On 14 September 2021 it was announced that his 'B' sample had also tested positive, confirming the initial test and "almost certainly" resulting in the relay team being disqualified and losing their medals. On 18 February 2022, having not appealed the findings of the test, the British relay team had their medals officially stripped. On 10 October 2022, Ujah was banned for 22 months, backdated to 6 August 2021 for unintentional use of prohibited substances by the AIU and the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...

resulting from inadequte caution after buying supplements over the internet.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ujah, CJ 1994 births Living people Athletes from the London Borough of Enfield English male sprinters British male sprinters Olympic male sprinters Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners Diamond League winners People educated at Sir George Monoux College English people of Nigerian descent Sportspeople of Nigerian descent Black British sportsmen Competitors stripped of Summer Olympics medals Doping cases in athletics English sportspeople in doping cases 21st-century English sportsmen British Diamond League winners