Usain Bolt could be set to lose one of the gold medals he won at the Beijing Olympics.
The Jamaican sprinter famously won three golds at the 2008 Olympics – one in the 100m, one in the 200m and one in the 4 x 100m relay race.
But it appears he could lose that final accolade after a relay race teammate, Nesta Carter, tested positive for a banned substance, according to news agency Reuters.
During the retesting of 454 samples from the 2008 Games, Nesta Carter’s ‘A’ sample was found to contain the banned substance Methylhexanamine.
Carter ran the first leg of the relay race with Usain Bolt, Michael Frater and Asafa Powell as the Jamaican team won gold with a new world record of 37.10 seconds, and may face face sanctions if his ‘B’ sample also tests positive for the substance.
All members of the team could be asked to return their medals if Carter tests positive.
As the BBC explains, Methylhexanamine has been on the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) Code prohibited list since 2004, although it was reclassified on the 2011 list as a “specified substance”, meaning one that is more susceptible to a “credible, non-doping explanation”.
At the time of writing, both Carter and his agent have declined to comment.