Jamaican track star Usain Bolt has been stripped of one of his nine gold medals due to a teammate testing positive for a banned substance.
Bolt and Nesta Carter were both on Jamaica’s 2008 relay team in the Beijing Olympic games in the 4×100. In 2016, the International Olympic Committee retested 454 samples from the 2008 Games. Last June it was announced that Carter tested positive for a banned stimulant named Methylhexaneamine, which has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) prohibited list since 2004.
The IOC is retesting samples to take advantage of new testing technology not previously available during 2008 and 2012, to expose prior undetectable trace amounts of substances. In the new batch of tested samples, more than 30 athletes tested positive from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and 3 more from the 2012 London games.⠀
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Historically, use of Methylhexanamine has been a suspension of six months to a year and voiding of any wins/rankings from the period in question. Last week as a result of the new findings, the IOC decided to disqualify Usain Bolt, Nesta Carter, Asafa Powell and Nickel Ashmeade of the Gold in the 4×100 relay gold medal. Trinidad & Tobago will now be awarded the gold. Japan has been upgraded to the silver medal and Brazil will get the bronze.
Bolt and teammates learned it was possible that they would be disqualified last June, with Bolt calling the incident, “heartbreaking.”
Nesta Carter is the first Jamaican to be disqualified from the Olympic games for doping.
photo via Instagram
