The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has acknowledged the disqualification of the Jamaican men’s 4x100m relay team after the confirmation of an adverse analytical finding from the retesting of samples from the Olympics Games held in Beijing, China in 2008.

Nesta Carter, who led off the men’s sprint relay team that won the gold medal in a then World Record 37.10 seconds, was found guilty of “committing an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the International Olympic Association (IOC) anti-doping rules applicable to the rules of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008”, a release from the JOA said yesterday.

Carter and the rest of the track and field world had been waiting for at least seven months for a decision since the news broke in June last year that the sprinter had failed a test in the first round of retesting under a new policy by the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The IOC yesterday announced that Carter tested positive for methylhexaneamine, a banned stimulant, in reanalysis of samples from the 2008 Beijing Games.

As a result, the team of Carter, Michael Frater, Usain Bolt and Asafa Powell will lose their gold medals, which the JOA has also been tasked with retrieving to return to the IOC as soon as possible, the release added.

Sprint hurdler Dwight Thomas, who ran in the first round of the event, will also lose his medal.

Carter, a staple on the Jamaican men’s relay teams since 2007, is the sixth-fastest man of all times with a personal best 9.78 seconds in August 2010 and was a bronze medallist in the 100m at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, Russia — a year after he took silver in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul, Turkey.

Yesterday’s decision by the IOC was met with worldwide shock as it meant triple world record holder Usain Bolt, who had won his first of five global 100m/200m doubles — including three at the Olympic Games — will also lose his unprecedented ‘triple triple’, having been part of the relay teams as well.

Additionally, the International Association of Athletics Federations announced it will be retesting other samples provided by Carter in subsequent meets, including World Championships.

Yesterday, Carter’s handlers indicated they were considering an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Up to press time yesterday, none of the affected athletes had made any public comments and a representative for Powell told the

Jamaica Observer he would not make any comment at this time.

With the withdrawal of the gold, Jamaica’s count for that Games is down to 10 medals — five gold, three silver and two bronze.

The disqualification of the Jamaican team, that has dominated the male sprinting over the last seven years, means Trinidad and Tobago will be promoted to the gold medal position after they ran 38.06 seconds for second, Japan will get the silver and Brazil the bronze.

— Paul A Reid