Usain Bolt is no longer a nine-time Olympic champion because one of his teammates on Jamaica’s gold-medal-winning relay team tested positive for a banned substance.
Nesta Carter’s name appeared on a list of 31 athletes who failed retests of blood and urine samples from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Carter ran the opening leg of the Olympic 4×100-meter final eight years ago as Jamaica set a world record of 37.1 seconds. In his first Olympics, Bolt swept the sport’s 100-meter, 200-meter and 4×100 titles, the first of three Olympics in which he has done so.
“It’s heartbreaking [the positive test] because over the years you’ve worked hard to accumulate gold medals and work hard to be a champion . . . but it’s just one of those things,” Bolt told the Guardian in June. “Things happen in life, so when it’s confirmed or whatever, if I need to give back my gold medal I’d have to give it back, it’s not a problem for me.”
Carter reportedly tested positive for Methylhexanamine.
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