Disgraced sprinter apologised to Usain Bolt after Olympic drug scandal
Usain Bolt previously revealed how he felt when his disgraced Jamaican Olympic squad teammate Nesta Carter apologised to him after failing a drugs test, which cost the 39-year-old an Olympic medal along with his compatriots Asafa Powell and Michael Frater.
Bolt would be a nine-time Olympic gold medallist if Carter had not failed a drugs test in 2016.
Bolt, Carter, Powell and Frater raced to gold in the 4x100m event at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, clocking a world record time of 37.10 seconds.
Of course, the sprinter, who remains the fastest human being of all time, would go on to complete the historic ‘triple-triple’ by winning three golds in three successive Olympics – Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
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But officially, Bolt has eight golds to his name due to the whole Jamaican team being stripped of their 2008 relay event medals in 2016.
Bolt’s Jamaican relay teammate Carter had his drug test re-analysed eight years after he ran the first leg of the men’s 4x100m relay in 2008, which resulted in his sample testing positive for the prohibited substance methylhexanamine.
Carter appealed the decision to strip him of his medal, but this was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and he served a three-month ban.
Carter’s sample was one of 454 selected doping samples retested by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2016.
In 2017, during an interview with CNN, Bolt made his feelings clear on Carter and being stripped.
“I have no hard feelings,” Bolt explained. “It’s just one of those things that happens in life.
“I haven’t gotten to talk to him to find out exactly what happened or what went down. So, until I see him, I can’t really say he did it on purpose, or it was a mistake, or I should be angry, you know what I mean.”
In a later interview with The Times in 2025, Bolt said that “If you can prove that someone genuinely did [performance-enhancing drugs] on purpose, then ban them for life”, before revealing that Carter had apologised.
“Nesta Carter came to me and apologised,” he said.
“It was disappointing. But everybody makes mistakes. I’ve moved on.”
Despite having to return an Olympic gold medal, Bolt’s achievements will live long in the memory of those who watched him with the Jamaican’s legacy assured.
Topics: Usain Bolt, Olympics, Athletics, Jamaica
Luke Davies