Bolt loses Beijing relay gold after Carter is banned on doping retest
KEIR RADNEDGE REPORTS —- Usain Bolt is losing one of his triple gold medals from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing after the latest International Olympic Committee re-testing verdict.
An IOC disciplinary commission has ruled that Bolt’s Jamaican team-mate Nesta Carter – and thus the entire team – have been disqualified from the 4x100m relay after re-analysis of his sample showed up positive for the banned substance methylhexaneamine.
Carter ran in the Jamaican team in the first round and in the final, together with Bolt, Michael Frater and Asafa Powell.
The IOC has ordered the Jamaican Olympic Association to return the medals and asked the International Associati0n of Athletics Federation to “modify the results of the final.”
This would mean, barring further disqualifications, Trinidad & Tobago being promoted from silver to gold, Japan from bronze to silver and Brazil taking the bronze medal.
Jamaica’s disqualification means that Bolt won two golds in Beijing in the 100m and 200m, rather than three. He did win all three golds in London.
Simultaneously the IOC panel also disqualified Russia’s 2008 silver medal-winning long-jumper Tatiana Lebedeva. She tested positive, on re-analysis, for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).
Nigeria’s Blessing Okagbare should be promoted from bronze to silver with Jamaica’s Chelsea Hammond taking bronze.
IOC statement:
The IOC today announced that two athletes have been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. The details follow.
Nesta CARTER, 31, of Jamaica, competing in the men’s 4x100m relay event (round 1 and final) in which he and his teammates ranked 1st and for which they were awarded the gold medal, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008.
Re-analysis of Carter’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine.
The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Mr Denis Oswald (Chairman), Mrs Gunilla Lindberg and Dr Ugur Erdener, decided the following:
The Athlete, Nesta CARTER:
is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008,
is disqualified from the men’s 4x100m relay event in which he participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008,
has the medal, the medallist pin and the diploma obtained in the men’s 4x100m relay event withdrawn and is ordered to return same.
The Jamaican team is disqualified from the men’s 4x100m relay event. The corresponding medals, medallist pins and diplomas are withdrawn and shall be returned.
The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
The Jamaica Olympic Association shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
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.
This decision enters into force immediately.
[Also:]
Tatiana LEBEDEVA, 40, of Russia, competing in the women’s triple jump event and the women’s long jump event in which she ranked 2nd and for which she was awarded a silver medal, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008.
Re-analysis of Lebedeva’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).
The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Mr Denis Oswald (Chairman), Mrs Gunilla Lindberg and Dr Ugur Erdener, decided the following:
The Athlete, Tatiana Lebedeva:
is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
is disqualified from the events in which she participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, namely, the women’s triple jump event and the women’s long jump event in which she twice ranked 2nd and for which she was consequently awarded in each case the silver medal, and
has both silver medals, diplomas and medallist pins obtained in the women’s triple jump event and the women’s long jump event withdrawn and is ordered to return the same.
The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned events accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
The Russian Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
The Russian Olympic Committee shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the silver medals, the diplomas and the medallist pins awarded in connection with the women’s triple jump event and the women’s long jump event to the Athlete.
This decision enters into force immediately.
The additional analyses on samples collected during the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012 were performed with improved analytical methods, in order to possibly detect prohibited substances that could not be identified by the analysis performed at the time of these editions of the Olympic Games.
The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit independent international organisation made up of volunteers, which is committed to building a better world through sport. It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, which means that every day the equivalent of USD 3.25 million goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.
PREAMBLE:
THE PROTECTION OF CLEAN ATHLETES AND THE FIGHT AGAINST DOPING ARE TOP PRIORITIES FOR THE INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMMITTEE (IOC), AS OUTLINED IN OLYMPIC AGENDA 2020, THE IOC’S STRATEGIC ROADMAP FOR THE FUTURE OF THE OLYMPIC MOVEMENT. TO PROVIDE A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FOR ALL CLEAN ATHLETES AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES RIO 2016, THE IOC PUT SPECIAL MEASURES IN PLACE, INCLUDING TARGETED PRE-TESTS AND THE RE-ANALYSIS OF STORED SAMPLES FROM THE OLYMPIC GAMES BEIJING 2008 AND LONDON 2012, FOLLOWING AN INTELLIGENCE-GATHERING PROCESS THAT STARTED IN AUGUST 2015.
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