Banned Substance Reportedly Found in Jamaican Sprinters’ Beijing Samples – Report
A report published on Sunday states that minuscule amounts of the banned substance clenbuterol have been found in samples from Jamaican sprinters who competed at the Beijing 2008, Olympic Games.
The discovery was reportedly made during retroactive testing of the samples.
According to German broadcaster ARD, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) was made aware of the discovery in 2016, but opted not to take any action as the levels detected are very small.
ARD, in its report does not specify which Jamaican athletes’ samples are affected but stated that athletes from other countries also failed retroactive testing.
Olivier Niggli, director of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is quoted by ARD as saying:
“I am aware of the fact that there are Jamaican cases with very low levels of clenbuterol.”
“If the amounts found are relatively low compared to direct intake of the substance, WADA accepts that such cases are not announced.”
In January, Jamaica’s 4x100m men’s relay team that competed at the Beijing Olympics was ordered to return their gold medals after Nesta Carter retroactively failed a drug test.
His sample was found to contain the stimulant methylhexanamine.
Without mentioning Jamaica, the IOC confirmed the report by ARD stating:
“During the re-analysis of the stored urine samples from the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, the laboratory found in a number of cases of athletes from a number of countries and from a number of different sports, very low levels of clenbuterol”.
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