Nesta Carter tests +ve of Methylhexanamine - strips Usain Bolt of a Gold medal - of 2008 !!!!

Usain St Leo Bolt,  the  Jamaican sprinter is regarded as the fastest human ever timed. He is the first person to hold both the 100 metres and 200 metres world records since fully automatic time became mandatory. He is the reigning World and Olympic champion in these three events.  An eight-time Olympic gold medalist, Bolt won the 100 m, 200 m and 4 × 100 m relay at three consecutive Olympic Games ! – you may have to read a rewritten story for no fault of his !!

Do you still remember 2008 Olympic Games, held at Beijing in Aug, 2008.  A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competed in 28 sports and 302 events.  China became the 22nd nation to host the Olympic Games and the 18th to hold a Summer Olympic Games.

Not many of us may remember or know that Nesta Carer was (yes, WAS) a Gold medallist.  Nesta Carter, a Jamaican sprinter, who specializes in the 100 metres event, was successful as part of the Jamaican 4 x 100 metres relay team, taking gold and setting successive world records at the 2011 World Championships and 2012 London Olympics. On August 11, 2013, Carter secured an individual 100m World Championship bronze medal in Moscow, behind Justin Gatlin and teammate Usain Bolt. He followed this with another gold in the 4 x 100 metres relay. In August 2010 he became only the fifth sprinter to run the 100 metres in less than 9.8 seconds.

All that is under a cloud as he goes under the ice taking a medal off Usain Bolt as well as today,  the International Olympic Committee sanctioned Carter for doping at the 2008 Olympic Games, meaning that Carter will lose his gold medal for the Men's 4x100m Relay.

Methylhexanamine has been on the banned list since 2004 and was reclassified as a specialised substance in 2011. It is also known as 'DMAA' and can be found in sports supplements. Until 1983, it was sold as a nasal decongestant in the United States. The US Food & Drug administration say Methylhexanamine 'narrows blood vessels and arteries, which can elevate blood pressure, and may lead to cardiovascular problems such as shortness of breath, arrhythmias, tightening in the chest, and heart attack, as well as seizures and other neurological and psychological conditions.' The useful effects mean it helps as a body building aid and with weight loss.

The IOC have disqualified Jamaica's Nesta Carter from 2008 Olympic Games, as re-analysis  of Nester sample, gave a positive test for prohibited substance methylhexaneamine. Jamaica have now been stripped of their medals - with Bolt and Co disqualified. The decision means Bolt's triple-triple of Olympic gold medals is no more

Bolt is no longer owner of the hallowed ‘triple-triple’ of Olympic sprint titles and will have to hand back the 4x100m relay gold medal won at Beijing 2008 alongside Carter. The Jamaican had realised this was a possibility after it emerged last summer that Carter had retrospectively failed a drugs test from the Beijing Games nine years ago.   It was the team of Asafa Powell, Nesta Carter, Usain Bolt and Michael Frater who won there.  His worst fears were confirmed when the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday announced it was to nullify the result of the Jamaican 4x100m team and reallocate the gold medal to Trinidad and Tobago.

Japan will now be promoted to silver and Brazil bronze but the Great Britain team, which was disqualified in the heats, will be unaffected. Carter ran the first leg for Jamaica’s 4x100m team and Bolt ran the third on the way to a gold medal inside Beijing’s Bird Nest stadium where he announced himself as a sprinting superstar.

There was much fanfare last summer when Bolt became the first person in history to clinch the ‘triple-triple,’ completing the task with victory in the relay inside Rio’s Joao Havelange stadium.  While Bolt is faultless in this unfortunate situation, a victim of his team-mate’s cheating, Carter’s use of performance enhancing drugs again casts a shadow over Jamaica’s sprint medal factory.  In 2013 Veronica Campbell-Brown, Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson all tested positive leading to suspicions as to how this tiny island became so dominant on the world stage. Medical opinion varies as to how potent a drug methylhexanamine is, with one prominent professor claiming it is only slightly more powerful than a cup of coffee.

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

25^th Jan 2017.

news and photos credit : dailymail.co.uk