Usain Bolt will have to give up a gold medal after the International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday that his teammate Nesta Carter was retroactively disqualified from the 2008 Olympics. Bolt and Carter were part of the Jamaican team that finished first in the 4x100m relay in 2008, beating Trinidad and Tobago, who will now be awarded gold.
Usain Bolt loses 2008 Olympic gold medal after teammate is disqualified for doping
Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
In 2016, the IOC reanalyzed samples from the 2008 Olympic Games to detect banned substances “which were not identified by the analysis performed at the time.” It found that Carter’s samples tested positive for the substance methylhexanamine, which has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s prohibited list since 2004.
Bolt and the team were aware of the possibility of losing their gold medals before the Rio games. Bolt told the Jamaica Gleaner last June that surrendering his gold would be “heartbreaking,” but he was willing to do it if the IOC decided to disqualify Carter:
“It’s heartbreaking. For years you’ve worked hard to accumulate gold medals and you work hard to be a champion, so it’s heartbreaking but it’s one of those things,” Bolt told The Gleaner.
“Things happen in life. If it’s confirmed or whatever and I need to give back my gold medal it’s not a problem to me,” added Bolt, who has won six gold medals over his two Olympic appearances.
You can read the IOC’s full decision here.
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