Late at night on February 18, Beijing time
The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced on its official website that it had found that British track and field athlete Uja had violated anti-doping rules, and his 100-meter single result at the Tokyo Olympic Games and the results of the British men's 4×100m relay team in the Olympic Games would all be cancelled.
After 5 months of waiting, the Chinese men's relay team finally ushered in the result of the replacement of the bronze. However, due to the cumbersome procedures, this medal also needs to go through a long reissuance process.
As one of the members of the Chinese men's relay team in the Tokyo Olympic Games, Hubei sprinter Wu Zhiqiang admitted that he is looking forward to the medal in his pocket.
A multi-year wish is about to come true
Since the Chinese men's relay team won the 4th ×100 relay runner-up of the World Championships at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing in 2015, they have made a wish to be on the Olympic podium.
Playing in Tokyo, when Su Bingtian ran an exciting 9.83 seconds in the men's 100m semi-finals, and then opened the 10-second mark again in the following final, they knew that this was the closest Chinese men's relay team was to the podium.
In the final of the men's 4×100m relay final at the Tokyo Olympics on 6 August 2021, Italy won the championship and the United Kingdom crossed the finish line for the second time. The Chinese team, consisting of Tang Xingqiang, Xie Zhenye, Su Bingtian and Wu Zhiqiang, finished in 37.79 seconds and finished fourth. The chinese men's relay team's wishes were disappointed, and Su Bingtian's Olympic medal dream was also shattered.
After the game, Su Bingtian said bluntly that he played all the levels in the game, so he did not regret it, but it was still difficult to hide his loss. In an interview, Su Bingtian's joke made netizens feel sad: "I especially want to find her (Gong Lijiao) to take a picture of me with a gold medal, because I have never seen it, and I have never seen a medal in the Olympic Games." The topic of "I want to add an Olympic medal to Su Bing" rushed to the hot search.
However, shortly after the match, the International Doping Agency announced that the A-bottle test was positive in the urine sample of Uja, one of the members of the British relay team. Uja then applied for a B-bottle test, but results released in mid-September last year showed that his B-bottle urine sample was still positive. A two-positive result means that Uja's doping test sample contains a banned ingredient.
Subsequently, the International Doping Agency referred the incident to the Anti-Doping Department of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport. The agency will decide whether Uja constitutes a doping violation and whether the British team's silver medal in relay will be withdrawn.
After about 5 months of waiting, the Court of Arbitration for Sport finally announced the results. As expected, Uja was found to be a doping violation, and the Results of the British team would be cancelled.
Uja (first from right) in the 100m relay final
"Looking forward to the medals that belong to our flying people", "Su Bingtian's medals are really coming", "Sooner or later it should come", "Su Shen finally has a card"... Netizens cheered, and Su Bingtian's wish was finally coming true.
We will have to wait for the medals to arrive
Olympic medals are vacant due to similar circumstances, and subsequent teams (individuals) are replaced, which has been followed in many cases in the past.
For example, at the 2012 London Olympics, after the results were cancelled due to the involvement of Russian kaniskina, Chinese athletes Qiyang Shijie and Liu Hong, who originally won bronze medals and fourth places, won silver and bronze medals in the women's 20 km race walk event. Gong Lijiao has won medals three times, two of which were at the London Olympics, and was awarded bronze and silver medals.
"The arbitral tribunal has already issued a judgment, and there are still layers of processes to go behind, and it is expected that the medal will be collected." For the Olympic medals that are expected to be replaced, Wu Zhiqiang, who is preparing for the Hangzhou Asian Games with Su Bingtian in Shenzhen, frankly said that he is looking forward to it.
But it will be a long process. It is understood that at present, after the International Court of Arbitration for Sport announces the verdict, the next step will be the World Athletics Federation to take over the plate, finalize the ban period of Uja and other issues. After the dust has settled on all parties, the relevant organizations will take back the silver medal of the British team and the bronze medal of the Canadian team (they will be replaced as the runner-up), and then the IOC/IAAF/National Olympic Committee will choose the most appropriate time to reissue the medal.
Previously, Liu Hong and Gong Lijiao's replacement medals had been waiting for 8 years. Gong Lijiao, who won the women's shot put championship at the Tokyo Olympics, admitted that justice may be late, but it has never been absent, let's look forward to it together! Even if it's 5 years and 10 years...
Obviously, this also speaks to the hearts of the Chinese people. No matter how long it takes, we wait together for this medal that has created the history of Chinese sprinting.
Text/Hubei Daily reporter Ma Mingyu
Photo/ Weibo, Xinhua News Agency