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Usain Bolt loses relay medal in doping case, ruining perfect string of Olympic golds

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Usain Bolt’s string of “triple gold” perfection in the Olympics has come to an end — and it’s not his fault.

“The Fastest Man Alive” was flawless in the Summer Games, winning gold medals in the 100-meters, the 200-meters and the 4×100-meter relay at three consecutive Olympics (2008, 2012 and 2016).

But one of his Jamaican teammates — sprinter Nesta Carter — was retroactively disqualified from the 2008 relay in Beijing because of a positive doping test that wasn’t discovered until eight years later.

The International Olympic Committee re-examined the Bejing samples in 2016, and Carter tested positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine.

Jamaica was stripped of its relay title.

Carter took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland, but the judging panel dismissed his appeal Thursday.

Do you think it's fair for Usain Bolt to lose his gold medal over this?

The panel said it “could not accept any of the arguments raised by Nesta Carter contending that the test results should be ignored or the IOC (disciplinary) decision should otherwise be overturned for certain alleged failures.”

Jamaica had a world-record time of 37.10 seconds in Beijing as Carter ran the opening leg and Bolt took the baton third. Their teammates were Michael Frater and Asafa Powell.

The 2008 gold medal will now go to Trinidad and Tobago, with Japan being upgraded to silver and Brazil to bronze.

The IOC reanalysis program, which uses new and more accurate tests on samples stored since the 2008 and 2012 Games, has resulted in dozens of positive tests for banned substances and numerous athlete disqualifications.

This is the only one involving Jamaica.

Bolt discussed Carter’s case with the BBC in 2017, saying, “I am not happy about it.”

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However, he said, “I have no power over this anymore. You can’t get too angry about something that you can’t really change.”

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Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He has worked as an editor or reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years.
Todd Windsor is a senior story editor at The Western Journal. He was born in Baltimore and grew up in Maryland. He graduated from the University of Miami (he dreams of wearing the turnover chain) and has worked as an editor and reporter in news and sports for more than 30 years. Todd started at The Miami News (defunct) and went on to work at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times, The Baltimore Sun and Space News before joining Liftable Media in 2016. He and his beautiful wife have two amazing daughters and a very old Beagle.
Birthplace
Baltimore
Education
Bachelor of Science from the University of Miami
Location
Phoenix, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Media, Sports




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