Stockton sprinter Richard Kilty could have his Olympic silver medal withdrawn after a teammate fails a drug test.
The 31-year-old was part of the British 4x100m relay team which finished second at the Tokyo Games.
Back in the northeast on Sunday, the beaming athlete was pictured proudly holding his medal.
Read more:Richard Kilty received as a hero on his return flight
However, he now faces potential heartache after teammate CJ Ujah was provisionally suspended for an anti-doping rule violation after testing positive for two banned substances.
If he can’t provide a strong enough explanation for how they got into his system, then the whole team could lose their medals.
It would be a devastating blow for Kilty, who put in an impressive third game in the final before proudly boasting that the team “broke” him.
They almost won gold with a time of 37.51 seconds – only to be overtaken by Italy by 0.01 seconds.
Teesside’s ace has yet to comment publicly on the news. On Twitter, he announced on Wednesday that he would march for his silver medal at Riverside on Saturday as a special guest in Middlesbrough’s clash with Bristol City.
However, Ujah faces a ban of up to four years if the provisional suspension is made permanent. Officials from the Athletics Integrity Unit have confirmed that they have detected a “presence / use of a prohibited substance (ostarine and S-23)”, which is said to mimic testosterone.
If the British team were to be withdrawn, Canada would have moved up to second place, with the Chinese team winning an unexpected bronze medal.
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