KINGSTON, Jamaica (Reuters)

Retired sprinter Nesta Carter avoided the maximum punishment for a second doping violation earlier today (December 1) when Jamaica’s Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel handed him a four-year ban for the use of the banned drug Clomiphene.

Carter, who won four world championship relay medals for Jamaica before retiring earlier this year, faced an eight-year ban after testing positive for the testosterone-boosting substance in an out of competition test in March this year.

“Medication prescribed for me in while out of competition in February 2021 to manage an ongoing medical condition, contained Clomiphene,” Carter said a statement after the verdict was made public on Wednesday.

Carter previously served a three-month ban in 2017 as the result of a positive test for the stimulant methylhexaneamine in retroactive test of a sample taken at the 2008 Olympics.

That decision resulted in Usain Bolt and Jamaica losing their 4x100m relay gold medals from the Beijing Games. Carter and his teammates retained their gold medals from the sprint relay at the 2012 London Olympics.

In the written reasons obtained by Reuters, the three-member disciplinary panel explained they made their decision based on the fact that although Carter’s previous positive test was recorded in 2016, it was from a sample taken in 2008.

Therefore, they reasoned, it fell outside the 10-year period within which multiple violations must fall under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules.

“The panel rightfully, reasonably and correctly accepted our submission that while that was a finding in 2016, it really related to a 2008 test and it was a retest and it was a retroactive finding,” Carter’s attorney, Stuart Stimpson, told Reuters.

Carter said he accepted the decision and regretted the failure on his part.

“While I accept that these circumstances cannot excuse my actions, I hope they are accepted as a just explanation for them,” the Jamaican sprinter added.