The most successful Olympic sprinter, Usain Bolt has lost one of his nine Olympic gold medals.
The loss came after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stripped Jamaica of their 4x100m relay win at the 2008 Beijing Games. IOC reached the verdict after Nesta Carter, one of Bolt’s teammates in the race was caught doping.
The decision which follows the retesting of hundreds of samples from the Beijing event, means that Bolt, as Carter’s teammate, loses one of the three gold medals he won at that Olympics. Carter was found to have tested positive for banned substance Methylhexanamine, which was once used in nasal decongestants but now is more commonly found as an ingredient in dietary supplements.
The I.O.C. directed the international track federation to “modify the results” of the 2008 event. Trinidad, Japan and Brazil were second, third and fourth in the race. The positions will now be adjusted accordingly to give Trinidad the gold medal.
The Jamaican team made up of Bolt, Carter, Asafa Powell and Michael Frater finished in 37.10, which was a world record at the time. However, when one member of a team tests positive, it is typical for the entire team to be stripped of its medals, though there have been exceptions. Marion Jones lost two relay medals from 2000 after doping violations, but her teammates were allowed to keep theirs after an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
It is unclear if Bolt will come out of retirement to make sure his treble treble record remains intact after this incident.
