Jamaica Olympic Association says it has not been notified of any rule violation
The Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter was reported to have returned an
anti-doping violation for the banned stimulant Methylhexanamine. If
ultimately proved, team-mates including
Usain Bolt face losing their 4x100m relay gold medals from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
According to Reuters, traces of the drug are reported to have been
found in Carter’s A sample when 454 frozen blood and urine samples from
Beijing were retested by the International Olympic Committee last month.
Carter will face sanctions if his B sample, which was due to be
reanalysed earlier this week, is also shown to be positive.
However, the Jamaica Olympic Association president, Michael Fennell,
said he had not yet received “any official communication concerning
reports in the media about the B sample testing of any athlete” on
Friday afternoon – while the Jamaica
Athletics
Administrative Association president, Warren Blake, insisted his
organisation had not been notified of any rule violation. The Guardian
was unable to speak to Carter’s agent, despite a number of attempts. The
30-year-old Carter has been a vital member of Jamaica’s 4x100m relay
team for nearly a decade, running the first leg as they won gold medals
at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games and the 2011, 2013 and 2015 world
championships. He has not run this season, citing a foot injury, but is
expected to race in the next few weeks before Jamaica’s Olympic trials,
which start later this month.
Although none of the other members of Jamaica’s 4x100m squad in 2008,
which included Bolt, Asafa Powell and Michael Frater, are accused of
doping, if the news is confirmed the IOC could strip them of their
title.
All members of the gold medal-winning US 4x400m relay squad at the
2000 Sydney Olympics were subsequently stripped of their medals after
Antonio Pettigrew admitted a doping offence. However, when the American
Marion Jones was stripped of her two relay medals from the Sydney Games
for doping offences, her team-mates kept theirs after
an appeal to the court of arbitration for sport.
The
IOC spokesman Mark Adams said discussions over what to do with the
medals won by any dope cheats exposed by the retesting were continuing.
“It is still being worked out,” he added. “What we want to do, and are
trying to do, is target athletes who have positive results and stop them
from competing in Rio.”
Methylhexanamine has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency code
prohibited list since 2004, although it was reclassified on the 2011
list as a “specified substance”.
Wada defines specified substances as those that are more susceptible
to a “credible, non-doping explanation”. Sold as a nasal decongestant in
the US until 1983, Methylhexanamine has been used more recently as an
ingredient in dietary supplements.
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.
