Usain Bolt stripped of 2008 Olympic gold medal

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt has been stripped of his 4x100m gold medal at the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The medal was stripped of the team after it emerged that teammate Nesta Carter had taken banned substances during the period. The action has taken the sprinter’s ‘triple-triple’ titles away from him as he will now hand back the medal.

The International Olympic Committee, IOC, has said that the medal will be reallocated to Trinidad and Tobago, who won Silver while Japan and Brazil will be handed Silver and Bronze respectively.  However, the Great Britain team, which was disqualified in the heats remain unaffected.

Carter was found to have taken the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine. The result shows that Bolt with a record of 9.58secs is the only drug-free athlete to have run 9.79secs without taking banned substances. The other five – Tyson Gay (9.69sec), Yohan Blake (9.69sec), Asafa Powell (9.72sec) and Justin Gatlin (9.74sec) – have all been done for doping violations.

The gold medal the Jamaican team won in London 2012 is thought to be safe even though Carter was a member of the team.