Usain Bolt is losing one of his nine gold medals after one of his Beijing 2008 relay teammates failed a drug test upon recent re-analysis.
The IOC announced sanctions against Nesta Carter, one of the Jamaican men competing in the 4×100 relay event in 2008. Re-analysis of his samples found the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine in his blood. By violating IOC anti-doping rules, the entire Jamaican team was disqualified. As a member of the team, Bolt will have one of his nine gold medals erased from his legacy.
Carter wasn’t the only athlete stripped of a medal for doping. Russia’s Tatiana Lebedeva lost her silver medal after re-analysis found her 2008 samples containing the banned substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. Lebedeva competed in the women’s triple jump and long jump, earning a silver medal.
It’s a shame Bolt lost a medal due to a teammate’s cheating. However, Carter using a banned substance impacted the race. Even with Bolt ensuring a victory in the event, there’s no way to know how much Carter’s cheating helped Jamacia win, hence the ban.
It’s shitty Bolt won’t have nine medals, but eight is still a pretty damn impressive number. I don’t think anyone is going to change the way they view Bolt’s success with one fewer medal. If Bolt was the one caught doping, sure, it wouldn’t be a different story. But, the 30-year-old is still the best short-track runner in history, and today’s news doesn’t change that.
