Top Jamaican Athlete at Beijing Games Reportedly Tests Positive in Drug Retest

Two weeks ago the International Olympic Committee (IOC) disclosed that 31 athletes who competed at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 had tested positive for banned substances.

The shocking revelation came after retrospective urine samples were re-examined using more advanced technology than was available at that time.

The identities of those implicated have not yet been made public because of the need to corroborate the positive tests by reanalysing the ‘B’ sample.

However, according to The Guardian, a high-profile Jamaican athlete is reported to be among the 31 positive tests.

It is understood that the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt is not the athlete involved.

Russian news agency Tass has announced that 14 of the 31 positive tests in Beijing came from its country’s athletes.

The Gleaner has also reported that there is growing anxiety among local track and field authorities as the results of B sample tests are expected to be made public by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) within days.

According to the Gleaner:

While the nation’s biggest global superstars in the sport are not being implicated at this point, the development is still set to have serious consequences for Jamaica’s track and field programme, with at least one medal from the Beijing Olympics now at risk of being stripped.

International sources have confirmed that testing of the B samples was conducted at a WADA-accredited lab in Lausanne, Switzerland in the past 48 hours.