Usain Bolt has to give back one of his gold medals from 2008 as 4x100 relay teammate Nesta Carter’s 2008 sample tested positive for methylhexaneamine.
They just got around to testing a 2008 sample now???
Most likely a new test that will pick up what was undetectable before.
running coach:
Even so, why the heck would they store old bodily fluids that long, just in case some future scientist comes up with better testing? How far back do they store stuff to retroactively check the integrity of past medals? Do they have infinite storage space, like that vault in Svalbard that’s supposed to hold seeds of every plant species on Earth?
The mind boggles. I would expect there to be a statute of limitations on this sort of thing, especially in a field of endeavor as frivolous as sports.
In Australia samples can be tested up to 8 years later.
From ASADA:
Seems they were identified in May last year.
At the very least, samples are saved for possible appeals. Further, medal winner/world record/other reasons are saved for just this situation.
I’m sure that with the new test, samples from previous Olympics were run. it’s just that one from 2008 came up positive.
I don’t know how long samples are saved but frozen urine is forever.
ETA: should have read don’t ask’s post. facepalm
That’s exactly correct, and they warn athletes that it might happen.
That team set a new world record with that particular win. Does that get vacated as well? (I don’t know if that record has since been beaten.)
If it’s still the record, it won’t be/isn’t any more.
The record is currently held by the 2012 Jamaican Olympic team. Carter was on that team as well, but as his 2012 sample has not tested positive, that gold medal, and the world record, still stands.