Usain Bolt’s famed triple-triple—three gold medals in three Olympic Games—has vanished, through no fault of his own. One of Bolt’s teammates in the 4×100 relay in the Beijing Olympics has been found guilty of doping.
The International Olympic Committee re-tested a sample of Nesta Carter from the Beijing Games and found the presence of the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine. As a result, Carter was disqualified, and took his entire team’s performance down with him.
“The Jamaica Olympic Association shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the medals, the medallist pins and the diplomas awarded in connection with the men’s 4x100m relay event to the athlete and his teammates,” the IOC said in rendering its decision.
Methylhexaneamine, a stimulant, is banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency, and numerous athletes in various sports have been disqualified for its use. Initially marketed as a nasal decongestant, it was removed from shelves in 1983.
The IOC has stepped up testing of athlete samples from prior Olympic Games following revelations of widespread doping among many athlete delegations, most notably Russia. The IOC can retain samples for as long as 10 years, allowing for more sophisticated sampling techniques to detect violations which went unpunished at the time of the event.
Photo: Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell of Jamaica receive their gold medals at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. (Getty Images)