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Usain Bolt stripped of gold medal due to teammate

By Veronica Elizabeth Bruno

Aug 23, 2015; Beijing, China; Usain Bolt (JAM) poses with the Jamaican flag after winning the 100m in 9.79 during the IAAF World Championships in Athletics at National Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Aug 23, 2015; Beijing, China; Usain Bolt (JAM) poses with the Jamaican flag after winning the 100m in 9.79 during the IAAF World Championships in Athletics at National Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /
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Usain Bolt was stripped of one his Olympic golds after teammate Nesta Carter tested positive for a banned substance.

Usain Bolt won nine gold medals between the Beijing, London and Rio Olympics. Now his total haul will be diminished to eight due to his team being disqualified for their win in the 4x100m relay in Beijing. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) ruled to disqualify all four members of the Jamaica team including Bolt, Asafa Powell, Michael Frater and of Carter.

Bolt became the only man to achieve the “triple triple,” winning all three sprint events in three separate Olympics, breaking out first at the Beijing games. With this latest doping scandal, Bolt remains the only man to have run 100m in under 9.79 without testing positive for a banned substance.

The decision wasn’t entirely a surprise, however. The Jamaican team knew  the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) had prohibited methylhexaneamine — the substance that Carter tested positive for. Methylhexaneamine had been on the prohibited list since 2004 and traces had been found in a reanalysis of Carter’s sample last summer. Hundreds of samples from those Games had been retested last year as part of an effort to quell doping. Since news of the failed test first emerged last June, Carter has ceased running competitively.

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Wednesday’s decision may not be the end of the issue, either. The International Association of Athletics Federations, said it plans to look into other competitions as well. In a statement on Wednesday night, the IAAF said, “Once the IOC’s case and any appeal is concluded for the disqualification of Nesta Carter from the men’s 4x100m event at the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 for an anti-doping rule violation, the IAAF will take it to the Jamaican federation to determine Carter’s sanction beyond this disqualification. The IAAF will also retest any samples it holds in storage for the athlete from other competitions.”

The athlete is expected to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in response. The CAS is the same agency that reduced Maria Sharapova’s doping violation suspension.

Some reactions to the news included:

https://twitter.com/dinglette1972/status/824293067305996289

 

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