The protection of clean athletes and the fight against doping are top priorities for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s strategic roadmap for the future of the Olympic Movement. To provide a level playing field for all clean athletes at the Olympic Games Rio 2016, the IOC put special measures in place, including targeted pre-tests and the re-analysis of stored samples from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012, following an intelligence-gathering process that started in August 2015. 

As part of this process, the IOC today announced that two athletes have been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. The details follow.

Nesta Carter, 31, of Jamaica, competing in the men’s 4x100m relay event (round 1 and final) in which he and his teammates ranked 1st and for which they were awarded the gold medal, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. Re-analysis of Carter’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance methylhexaneamine.

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Mr Denis Oswald (Chairman), Mrs Gunilla Lindberg and Dr Ugur Erdener, decided the following:

The Athlete, Nesta Carter:

1. is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008,
2. is disqualified from the men’s 4x100m relay event in which he participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008,
3. has the medal, the medallist pin and the diploma obtained in the men’s 4x100m relay event withdrawn and is ordered to return same.
1. The Jamaican team is disqualified from the men’s 4x100m relay event. The corresponding medals, medallist pins and diplomas are withdrawn and shall be returned.
2. The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned event accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
3. The Jamaica Olympic Association shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
4. The Jamaica Olympic Association shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the medals, the medallist pins and the diplomas awarded in connection with the men’s 4x100m relay event to the Athlete and his teammates.
5. This decision enters into force immediately.

The full decision is available here.

Tatiana Lebedeva, 40, of Russia, competing in the women’s triple jump event and the women’s long jump event in which she ranked 2nd and for which she was awarded a silver medal, has been disqualified from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008. Re-analysis of Lebedeva’s samples from Beijing 2008 resulted in a positive test for the prohibited substance dehydrochlormethyltestosterone (turinabol).

The IOC Disciplinary Commission, composed for this case of Mr Denis Oswald (Chairman), Mrs Gunilla Lindberg and Dr Ugur Erdener, decided the following:

The Athlete, Tatiana Lebedeva:

1. is found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008 (presence and/or use of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in an athlete’s bodily specimen),
2. is disqualified from the events in which she participated upon the occasion of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, namely, the women’s triple jump event and the women’s long jump event in which she twice ranked 2nd and for which she was consequently awarded in each case the silver medal, and
3. has both silver medals, diplomas and medallist pins obtained in the women’s triple jump event and the women’s long jump event withdrawn and is ordered to return the same.
1. The IAAF is requested to modify the results of the above-mentioned events accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence.
2. The Russian Olympic Committee shall ensure full implementation of this decision.
3. The Russian Olympic Committee shall notably secure the return to the IOC, as soon as possible, of the silver medals, the diplomas and the medallist pins awarded in connection with the women’s triple jump event and the women’s long jump event to the Athlete.
4. This decision enters into force immediately.

The full decision is available here.

The additional analyses on samples collected during the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012 were performed with improved analytical methods, in order to possibly detect prohibited substances that could not be identified by the analysis performed at the time of these editions of the Olympic Games. For further details, please consult the following factsheet.

• This media release was originally published by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on 25 January 2017. To access the original, please click here.