Usain Bolt lost one of his nine Olympic gold medals on Wednesday when the International Olympic Committee stripped Jamaica of their 4x100m relay win at the 2008 Beijing Games after a team-mate was caught doping.
It is the result of retesting of hundreds of samples from the Beijing Games and means that Bolt – who had previously described the prospect as “heartbreaking” – loses one of the three gold medals he won at that Olympics.
Bolt’s relay team-mate Nesta Carter, who ran the first leg of the race, was found to have tested positive for the banned substance methylhexaneamine, which was once used in nasal decongestants but now is more commonly found as an ingredient in dietary supplements.
The loss of the relay gold deprives Bolt of one of his “triple triples” – he won gold in the 100m, 200m and the 4x100m at Beijing and repeated the unprecedented feat in London in 2012 and again in Rio last year.
Last year, warned of the case against Carter, Bolt said: “It’s heartbreaking 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.
“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,” Bolt said, while praising the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the IAAF for their efforts to stamp out doping.
An IOC statement said re-analysis of the 2008 samples of Carter, 31, “resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine”.
The IOC Disciplinary Commission ruled that Carter “is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008”.
As such, he “is disqualified from the men’s 4x100m relay event” and must return his medal while the team — led by sprint king Bolt – is likewise disqualified and they must hand back their medals.
Trinidad and Tobago, who came second, are promoted to gold medal winners, while Japan move up to silver and Brazil win bronze.