Usain Bolt Loses Olympic Relay Gold Medal

Usain Bolt will not get his ninth Olympic gold medal back after a Court Arbitration for Sport ruling.

On Thursday, a judging panel dismissed Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter’s appeal against disqualification from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Victory ceremony for the men’s 4x100m relay: Marvin Anderson, Usain Bolt, Nesta Carter, Asafa Powell

Carter went under fire in 2016 after a positive doping test surfaced. The International Olympic Committee determined that the sprinter tested positive for the stimulant methylhexaneamine, which is a banned energy boosting steroid.

According to the AP, the CAS panel stated that they “could not accept any of the arguments raised by Nesta Carter contending that the test results should be ignored or the IOC (disciplinary) decision should otherwise be overturned for certain alleged failures.”

The loss of Carter’s appeal will cost Usain Bolt and the Jamaican team their 4×100 medals. The gold medals will now go to the Trinidad and Tobago team.

Jamaica’s disqualification spoils the perfect Olympic career of Bolt who would have three gold medals in the 100, 200, and 4×100 in three consecutive games (2008, 2012, 2016).

Confirmation of the verdict comes on a memorable day for Bolt. May 31 marks the date he set his first world record in the 100m dash. The retired sprinter took to Twitter to reminisce on this day in history.

Tamia Heard
Author:
Tamia Heard is a rising senior at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Tamia is majoring in communication studies with a journalism concentration. As a southern woman, she enjoys Saturday's filled with college football and good food!