Usain Bolt’s Olympic teammate, Nesta Carter, sees Beijing Games ‘B’ sample also fail drug test
Jamaican Olympic relay gold medallist Nesta Carter’s “B” sample for the use of a banned stimulant at the 2008 Beijing Games has returned positive, two sources familiar with the case said on Wednesday.
The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) said last Friday it had received notification from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that one of its competitors had returned an adverse analytical result but did not name the athlete.
Neither Carter nor his agent has responded to repeated queries for a comment on the positive test.
Carter, who has helped Jamaican 4x100 metre relay teams to Olympic and world championship titles, returned a doping violation for the banned stimulant methylhexanamin in a re-test of 454 samples from the 2008 Beijing Games ordered by the IOC.
The same two sources said the B-sample also came back positive.
“It’s now a matter of the next steps relating to the hearing,” said one of the sources who spoke on condition of not being named.
President of the Jamaica Olympic Association Mike Fennell declined comment when contacted on Wednesday afternoon.
First-leg relay specialist Carter has been a vital member of Jamaica’s dominant squad, helping the Caribbean island win gold medals at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics and the 2011, 2013 and 2015 world championships.
Historically, the sanction for the use of methylhexanamine has been a suspension of six months to a year and the loss of results from the period concerned.
Although his relay teammates Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Michael Frater are not accused of doping, it is possible the IOC could strip them of their gold medals due to Carter’s B-sample testing positive.
If Bolt, Powell and Frater lose their relay medals, they could appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
