The greatest Olympian of all time may be set for some massive disappointment as his historic achievement seems likely to be significantly lessened through no fault of his own. The "treble of trebles" may be nullified for Usain Bolt after reports of his 4x100m teammate testing positive for a banned substance have emerged.
Needless to say, this revelation has cast a cloud over Jamaica's triumph in the athletics division of the Olympic Games. Nesta Carter ran the first course of the relay race in the 2008 Olympics held at Beijing, and Bolt was the third runner for the team. They went on to achieve a first place finish for Jamaica in the event.
If the test results are proved to be conclusively positive, the dreadful possibility of the entire relay team being stripped of its gold medal emerges. However, so far, no wrong-doing on the part of the other three sprinters has emerged.
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The 2008 sample submitted by Carter was retroactively tested and was found to contain positive traces of methylhexanamine. According to Reuters, a small amount of it was found in Carter's A Sample when nearly 454 grams of frozen blood and urine from various athletes was tested by the International Olympic Committee in July.
Definitive action will be taken against Carter if his B Sample tests positive too. The second round of tests was due to take place earlier this week. If found guilty of doping, the entire Jamaican relay team could face the consequences of the humiliation through absolutely no fault of their own.
Michael Fennell, the president of the Jamaica Olympic Association, said that he was yet to be notified by the IOC regarding the official reports of Carter's tests. As of Friday, Fennell maintained that he had not received "any official communication concerning reports in the media about the B sample testing of any athlete."
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The relay team of 2008 consisted of Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Michael Frater apart from Nesta Carter as its participants. However, even with the possibility of a medal being taken away from them, this will in no way affect Usain Bolt's legacy at the Summer Games.
The Jamaican sprinter has been a great entertainer on the track and has proved himself a fantastic humanitarian off the field too. He has, without doubt, been the greatest sprinter this generation has seen – and possibly of all time.
Although a medal being taken away from the entire team is not confirmed, there has been a precedent of a similar situation, that took place during the Games at Sydney in 2000. The entire US 4x400m relay team lost their medals after Antonio Pettigrew was found guilty of using performance-enhancing drugs.
On the other hand, when American sprinter Marion Jones was stripped of her medals from the same edition of the Games, her teammates were allowed to keep theirs.
Here is the 4x100m relay final from 2008:
