Usain Bolt, world record holder over 100 metres and that same world’s iconic sprinter, believes his sport is in a “rough moment” following confirmation of 31 positive doping samples from the Beijing Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced this week that 31 unnamed athletes from Bejing 2008 are implicated following the re-testing of 454 samples using new detection techniques for the banned blood-booster EPO and steroids.
Bolt, who provided the indelible moment of those Games in the Bird’s Nest Stadium when he set an Olympic and World Record of 9.69 seconds, broken again the next year by the Jamaican himself, to win gold in the 100 metres final.
“It’s rough. It’s rough on the sport,” Bolt said about news of the positive re-tests. “Something that’s been tarnishing the sport for years.”
But the 29-year-old, who has been in Germany for treatment on “slight discomfort” in his hamstring, says the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) is still doing a good job at catching cheats.
“They’ve [WADA] proven that anybody who has cheated, they’re going to catch,” Bolt said.