Featured Image Credit: Ready Set Go/YT
Topics: Usain Bolt, Athletics, Olympics
Luke Davies
Usain Bolt once admitted that he was “let down” by an opponent whom he “respected” previously, and even suggested he should be ‘banned for life’.
Bolt, 38, is the fastest man of all time and boasts both the 100 and 200m world records with times of 9.58 and 19.19 seconds, respectively, both of which he set during the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany.
His eight Olympic gold medals have assured his legacy in the sport, but even the great Jamaican has suffered at the hands of drug cheats.
In 2017, Bolt, Michael Frater and Asafa Powell saw their 4x100m relay gold medals from the 2008 games stripped due to their teammate Nesta Carter failing a drugs test years later.
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The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said Carter’s sample tested positive for the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine.
Several of Bolt’s closest rivals, including Justin Gatlin - who admitted failing a drug test in 2006 and received a subsequent ban, which was overturned by the IAAF - have seen their careers overshadowed as a result of positive tests.
And this was also the case for American Tyson Gay.
Gay, now 42, was once the second-fastest man in history, having clocked a time of 9.69 seconds in 2009.
However, he tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid in 2013 and was handed a one-year ban after cooperating with authorities.
Bolt gave his thoughts to Runner’s World in 2015.
Speaking about Gay’s return, Bolt said: “I was really upset about that. He got a year just because he talked to the authorities about how it was done and who helped him. That sends the wrong message: ‘If you do it and get caught, just tell us all you know and we’ll lower your ban’. It’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. The message should be: ‘If you cheat you’re going to be kicked out of the sport’.”
He added: “I’m not looking forward to competing against Tyson [at the 2015 IAAF World Athletics Championships].
“It really bothers me. I’m not worried about him beating me, I think it’s because I respected him so much over the years. He was a competitor, kept me on my toes and he pushed me to always do my best. Then to find out that he was on drugs – it’s a bit like I think parents must feel when they have a kid who does something bad and lets them down. I feel like he let me down and he let the sport down.
“You have to drive fear into athletes, to make them think about the consequences of their actions. If they’re getting an easy penalty, why would they care?”
Bolt won the subsequent men’s 100m final with Gay finishing in sixth.
Less than a year later, at the Rio Olympics in 2016, Bolt triumphed once again, sprinting to gold.
Meanwhile, Gay was part of Team USA’s men’s 4x100m relay quartet that initially secured bronze before they were disqualified as Gatlin was ruled to have received the baton too early from Mike Rodgers.
Despite serving a ban, Gay said he should not he described as a 'drug cheat' in 2015.
Gay said: "If I would have made a decision to intentionally do something to hurt the sport, I wouldn't have come back.
"When you put key words or a syringe by somebody's name, it manipulates someone's mind to believe you intentionally tried to do something and get away with it.
"That wasn't the case."