Jamaica’s Usain Bolt and his teammates of the 2008 Beijing Olympics Men’s 4x100m Relay team could lose the gold medal they won — Nesta Carter tested positive for a banned substance.
Carter’s A sample was found to contain the banned stimulant Methylexaneamine after the retesting of 454 samples from the 2008 Games. He will face sanctions if his ‘B’ sample also tests positive for the said substance — a public reprimand or up to an 18-month suspension.
The 30-year-old ran the first leg for Jamaica’s 4x100m relay team in Beijing, which also included Michael Frater, Asafa Powell and Bolt. The team won gold in what was then a new world record of 37.10 seconds, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago and Japan.
Carter was also a member of Jamaica’s gold medal-winning relay teams at the 2011, 2013 and 2015 World Championships as well as the 2012 Olympic Games.
According to the BBC:
Methylhexanamine has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) Code prohibited list since 2004, although it was reclassified on the 2011 list as a “specified substance”, meaning one that is more susceptible to a “credible, non-doping explanation”.
Sold as a nasal decongestant in the United States until 1983, Methylhexanamine has been used more recently as an ingredient in dietary supplements.
In previous doping cases where individual members of a medal-winning relay squad have tested positive for a banned substance, the whole team is stripped of their medal.
The United States men’s 4x100m team were stripped of their silver medals from the 2012 Olympics after Tyson Gay’s doping case.
