The IOC has announced that two more athletes have failed anti-doping tests after re-tests of their 2008 samples. They include a Jamaican runner who helped win the 4x100m relay, meaning all four members of the relay (which included Usain Bolt) will be stripped of their medals.
Nesta Carter was retroactively disqualified from the Beijing Olympics after re-analysis of his anti-doping sample showed the banned substance methylhexaneamine. Carter was a part of the gold medal-winning relay of himself, Michael Frater, Bolt and Asafa Powell. That group has now been stripped of its gold medals for the event and ordered to return their medals, medallist pins and diplomas.
In addition, silver medal-winning triple jumper and long jumper Tatiana Lebedeva of Russia has also been disqualified and stripped of her medals. Lebedeva won two silvers, finishing second in both jumping events in 2008. Her sample tested positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone, also known as turinabol.
Olympic anti-doping samples are typically kept for a length of time after the Olympics. The IOC is authorized to retest the samples for years after the Olympics, using newer testing methods to find substances that were banned at the time of the event. Retests of Beijing and London samples have already led to a huge number of disqualified athletes and vacated medals.
Do they actually have to physically return the medals? I always thought it was more of an on paper “stripping of medals”. How does that even get enforced?
Important news (I have many doubts for years about Jamaican sprint recent domination like sudden Elaine Thompson’s stunning progression) but what has that to do with swimming?
Also, thank you Swimswam for using this picture for the story instead of one with urine in it! It’s much easier on the eyes!
Yes, Bolt lost the triple but there’s no denying how impressive he is in his sport.
As much as I love that they keep finding ways to catch these cheaters, I always feel so bad for those who lost out in the initial glory of the win like Brazil in this case who came in 4th. Or the Jamaican who could have taken Carter’s spot on that relay team.
You know what this means? Michael Phelps got more gold in one Olympics than Bolt did in 3 GOAT
I’d like to know how you count.
Phelps won 8 golds in Beijing, and Bolt -now- won 8 golds. How did you conclude that Phelps’ 8 golds is a greater number than Bolt’s 8 golds, especially considering there are 3 relays in swimming in which US depth is unparalleled, compared to Bolt whose only chance for relay gold is only in 4×100. Jamaicans rarely had much depth or a couple of more 400 sprinters, until this past year. If only there had been 4×200, Bolt would have won another three extra golds;
Also, direct comparison between different sports in terms of medals won is useless and futile. For me, relays medals, although great achievement, is a totally unfair measure… Read more »
You like Hillary Clinton never give up and again and again have been bringing this Hosszu-Sjostrom-Gould examples in the discussion of values and importance of relay medals. Before you starting using your famous “reading comprehension” last reserve argument, think that:
even with all this depth of American or Australian teams that you cannot forgive them will American win gold medal in 4×200 without Ledecky, will Australian’s deepest ever collection of sprinters win gold medal without Cate Campbell, will American win relays in London if to replace Missy Franklin with Hosszu?
That is what great swimmers do, they make from good team the great one and relay gold medal is the measure of such abilities and such fit.
Holy crap at people getting upset over this comment, I’m sure it was meant in jest
Let’s assume for a second I know squat about Chemistry (an easy assumption when true!).
How LONG do these chemicals last in the athlete’s samples? If the samples are frozen, I could understand that, but you’d still think the life of them would fall away eventually.
Wow, what a boner way for Usain Bolt to lose his ‘Triple-Triple’ – 3 golds at three consecutive Olympics.
Much like Reggie Bush’s Heisman, he’s still got it.
But Reggie Bush’s Heisman was a bit different because he was stripped for a non-performance related violation. Bolt may not have won that medal were it not for the enhanced performance of his teammate.
They won 37.10 to 38.06. They literally could have put a decent HS sprinter on it and still won. (Like me!)
Not that surprising since both Asafa Powell and Nesta Carter has now tested positive. Jamaican Track (Track in general) doesn’t have a great history of being clean.
I agree. The same goes for USA track&field as well.
Lewis, Flojo, jones, hunter, etc etc etc.
Or Russia, or China.
I actually think that Bolt is a clean genetic freak of nature, but there was a period of time not too long ago when Jamaica pretty much didn’t have a national anti-doping program and tried to play the ‘but we’re a poor country’ when someone called them on it. And that there were far more dirty athletes than Carter and Powell that better international placings than they naturally would have.
Jamaica seems to be slowly cleaning up its act but it can take time to clean all the dirty from the system.
@BEACHMOUSE: your postings are among my favorites, but in this case I didn’t quite get if the “clean genetic freak of nature” has a negative connotation. I pretty much sure that should swimmers of 1970x or even 1980x got known about times of current swimming elite they would consider them a generation of freak of nature. Isn’t it what we are expecting from competitive sport? – the discovery of freaks? Sure there are some people, like Attila for instance that prefer to see “the triumph of a mind over physical body”, but they are minority. We are very welcome freaks like Ian Thorpe, Sarah Sjostrom, Cate Campbell, Michael Phelps, Katie Ledecky, Katinka Hosszu and Anthony Ervin.
I don’t think the connotation was negative, I think by “genetic freak” he was just saying Bolt is an extreme outlier, which is true.
One might also argue, what a boner way for Usain Bolt to get his ‘Triple-Triple’
I don’t know how long they hold onto them, but over time they come up with more advanced ways to test for things they couldn’t before. This prevents athletes “ahead of their time” in doping from getting away with it. Even it it is many years later.