Usain Bolt stripped of 2008 relay gold medal after teammate found guilty of doping

(Image credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images)

published 25 January 2017

The International Olympic Committee has stripped Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt of his 2008 gold medal from the 4x100-meter relay, it announced Wednesday, after teammate Nesta Carter was found guilty of doping at that year's Beijing Games. The loss brings Bolt's total gold-medal count to eight, down from nine.

The IOC retested frozen athlete samples from the 2008 Games with new methods last year, The Associated Press reports. The sample Carter gave on Aug. 23, 2008 — just one day after the Jamaican men won gold in the 4x100-meter relay — was originally declared clean during the Beijing Games, but was found to contain the banned substance methylhexaneamine upon re-testing last year.

Last June, Bolt reportedly said he was "not too pleased" about Carter's results in the IOC's re-test, but told the Jamaica Gleaner he would cooperate should the IOC decide to strip the team of its medal. "It's heartbreaking, but it's one of those things," Bolt said. "If [Carter's doping] is confirmed ... and I need to give back my gold medal, it's not a problem for me." Bolt will still be an 8-time gold medalist, thanks to the two remaining golds he won in Beijing, three from London in 2012, and three from Rio last summer.