Zharnel Hughes stripped of gold after being disqualified in men's 200m final
Hughes was stripped of his medal after catching Jereem Richards in the face with his arm as they approached the finish line
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England’s Zharnel Hughes was stripped of his gold medal after being disqualified in the men’s 200m final for catching Trinidad and Tobago’s Jereem Richards in the face with his arm.
A photo finish confirmed that the Englishman had crossed the line ahead of Richards, clocking in at 20.12 seconds to take gold.
But Hughes was quickly stripped of his medal after officials judged that the runner had impeded Richards’ finish.
Team England unsuccessfully appealed the decision in the hope of seeing Hughes reinstated.
The Englishman made a blistering start to the race and held a comfortable lead approaching the back straight. But Richards capitalised on his tiring opponent and closed the gap in the final 30m before drawing level at the finish line.
Hughes' subsequent disqualification means Aaron Brown of Canada ended with silver while Northern Ireland's Leon Reid was bumped up to a surprise bronze.
In the women's 200m final, Dina Asher-Smith won bronze with a time of 22.29secs after finishing behind winner Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas and Jamaica's Shericka Jackson, who claimed silver.
Asher-Smith held off the challenge from Elaine Thompson, the reigning 100m Olympic champion, to take third.
"I'm happy, whenever you come to the games you want to win, but when you see the time and the fact it is April you can't complain," she told the BBC afterwards.
"Doing the 200 I knew I had to have good speed and endurance. I'm so happy to run a 22.2 in April, it is crazy."
Asked about doing the 400m in the future, she replied:" I would never say never as you never know what the future holds but I would be moaning all the way, a whole lap of the track."
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