Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter fails 2008 drug re-test

Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter who won gold with the country’s relay team in Beijing, has reportedly tested positive for a banned stimulant, Methylhexanamine.

A source cited by Reuters news agency said traces of the banned stimulant were found in Carter’s A sample which was part of 454 samples from the 2008 Beijing games that were retested.

Methylhexanamine, sold as a nasal decongestant in the United States until 1983, has been used more recently as an ingredient in dietary supplements.

It has been on the World Anti Doping Agency’s prohibited list since 2004 although it was reclassified on the 2011 list as a “specified substance”.

The relay gold medalist could face sanctions if his B sample also tests positive for the same substance.

The president of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), Michael Fennell, told Reuters on Friday that the body had not received “any official communication concerning reports in the media about the ‘B’ sample testing of any athlete”.

Reuters said neither Carter, nor his Beijing 4×100 meter relay team mates Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Michael Frater, nor his agent have replied to repeated requests for comment.

The 30-year-old has not run this season due to a foot injury but he is expected to race in the next few weeks ahead of Jamaica’s Olympic trials.

The IOC programme of revisiting samples is aimed at using developments in testing techniques to expose traces of drugs that were undetectable in 2008 or 2012.

Sanctions for using a stimulant vary and can range from a public warning upwards.

The sanction for using Methylhexanamine has historically been a suspension of six months to a year and the loss of results from the period concerned.

Although Carter’s relay team mates are not accused of doping, it is possible that the IOC could strip them of their gold medals if Carter’s B-sample tests positive.

_Reuters _