Olympia, relay: The British sprinter Chijindu Ujah, who won silver at the Olympic Games in Tokyo with the 4×100 meter relay, is suspected of doping and has therefore been temporarily banned. This was announced by the independent integrity commission of the World Athletics Federation (Aiu) on Thursday. Ujah is one of four athletes who tested positive for a prohibited substance at the games and were named by the AIU on Thursday. According to AIU, Ujah had tested positive for two androgen receptor binding substances (SARMS), which are similar in their effects to anabolic and androgenic steroids.
If the B-sample confirms the result, not only will the 27-year-old Olympic silver be withdrawn, but also his fellow squadrons Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake, Richard Kilty and Zharnel Hughes. In the event of a subsequent disqualification, Canada would move to silver and China would get bronze. The German quartet would then be fifth instead of sixth. In addition, the middle-distance runner Sadik Mikhou from Morocco, the Georgian shot putter Benik Abrahamyan and the Kenyan 100-meter sprinter Mark Otieno Odhiambo are suspected of doping and have been banned.
Football, transfer market: Timo Werner faces strong competition in the attack at Chelsea. Belgian national soccer player Romelu Lukaku returns to the blues after eight years. The 28-year-old striker, who has already hunted goals for several clubs in the English Premier League, signed a five-year contract with the Champions League and Supercup winners until the summer of 2026. This was announced by coach Thomas Tuchel’s team on Thursday evening famous.
Lukaku comes from the Italian champions Inter Milan. He had already completed a medical check in Milan at the beginning of the week and cleared the final formalities in London on Thursday. It was initially unclear whether the newcomer could play for his old and new club in the home game against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Chelsea are paying Inter to receive £ 97.5million (around € 115million), according to consistent reports in British media. This makes Lukaku the most expensive player in the history of the London club and replaces Kai Havertz’s previous record transfer. The German international was signed in 2020 for 75.8 million pounds (about 90 million euros). Lukaku is the second most expensive professional in the Premier League. The league record has recently been held by Jack Grealish, who had moved from Aston Villa to English champions Manchester City a week earlier for the equivalent of 118 million euros.
Football, Bundesliga: Oliver Mintzlaff will remain CEO of the Bundesliga soccer club RB Leipzig until at least 2026. As the association announced on Thursday, the contract, which initially ran until 2024, was extended prematurely by two years. The 45-year-old has been RB’s managing director since 2016 and chairman of the board since 2014.
“At RB Leipzig we are taking a path that is characterized on and off the field by a clear philosophy, permanent development and many successes. I would like to continue shaping this path in the years to come and look forward to the many exciting, but also tackling challenging tasks with this great team, “said Mintzlaff in a club release. Under his direction, RB first rose to the 2nd Bundesliga, then in 2016 to the first division. Since then, the team has qualified four times for the Champions League and once for the Europa League. In the 2019/2020 season, RB reached the Champions League semi-finals and twice in the DFB Cup final.
Football, Bundesliga: Coach Christian Streich from the Bundesliga soccer club SC Freiburg has appealed to people to get vaccinated against Corona. “There are always different opinions about the need for vaccination protection,” said the 56-year-old: “I hope that the people who have not yet been vaccinated to this day will come to the realization that it is important to protect yourself and others. ” He sees vaccination as a “solidary measure,” he continued: “Unfortunately, it has not yet penetrated many people what kind of achievement it is. With clear common sense and the responsibility that one has, there can only be one decision. ” The Bundesliga clubs themselves do not communicate any figures on how many of their players have been vaccinated.