- Darren Campbell has defended his decision to recall CJ Ujah to the relay team
- Ujah’s failed drugs test saw Britain stripped of 4x100m silver in Tokyo in 2021
- Richard Kilty said he wouldn’t forgive his team-mate for costing him the medal
Darren Campbell, Great Britain’s head of sprints and relays, has defended his decision to recall CJ Ujah after the men’s 4x100metres team booked their place at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Ujah, whose failed drugs test saw Britain stripped of their 4x100m silver medal from the Tokyo Games in 2021, is back in their squad for the World Relays in the Bahamas after returning from his 22-month doping ban last year.
The 30-year-old was not part of the GB quartet who finished second behind France in their heat in Nassau to qualify for Paris 2024, with Eugene Amo-Dadzie joining Tokyo relay runners Zharnel Hughes, Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mithcell-Blake.
But Ujah could well make Britain’s team at the Olympics and Campbell told Mail Sport: ‘I know what each athlete can do as a relay athlete and there are no rules that say I can’t pick CJ.
‘Unless somebody can show us a rule as an organisation why CJ can’t be selected, it is not my job to get involved in how certain people feel about a certain individual being allowed to run. Everybody has the right to represent Great Britain.’
Ujah’s controversial return posed particular problems for Kilty, who said two years ago he would never forgive his team-mate for costing him an Olympic medal. But Kilty told Mail Sport over the weekend he was willing to put his grievances to one side for the good of the team.
Campbell added: ‘The most important thing was qualifying for the Olympics. In any walk of life, you don’t have to like the people that you work with, but you have to do the job that you are here to do – and every single athlete that has come out here has been absolutely professional.
‘We are not asking everybody to be the best of friends, but what we are asking is that they respect each other.’
Britain’s women’s 4x100m quartet of Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Bianca Williams and Amy Hunt also sealed their spot in Paris on Sunday by winning their heat, despite missing stars Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita.
GB’s men’s and women’s 4x400m teams also earned Olympic qualification on the opening night of the competition by finishing second in their heats.