Usain Bolt says drug cheat Tyson Gay got off lightly
Last Updated: 24/04/15 9:02am
Usain Bolt believes Tyson Gay got off lightly for using performance enhancing drugs and should have been kicked out of athletics.
Gay, the second-fastest sprinter in history, failed three drugs test in 2013 but was given a reduced one-year ban after turning informer for the US Anti-Doping Agency.
“I was really upset about,” Bolt said in an interview with Runner’s World. “He got a year just because he talked to the authorities about how it was done and who helped him.
“That sends the wrong message: ‘If you do it and get caught, just tell us all you know and we’ll lower you ban.’
“It’s the most stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. The message should be: ‘If you get cheat you’re going to get kicked out of the sport.’”
Gay returned to athletics last year and was faster than the six-time Olympic champion.
Bolt is likely to line-up alongside the American for the first time since his exile at this summer’s World Championships in Beijing.
“I’m not looking forward to competing against Tyson,” admitted the world’s fastest man.
“It really bothers me. I’m not worried about him beating me, I think it’s because I respected him so much over the years.
“He was a competitor, kept me on my toes and he pushed me to always to my best. Then to find out that he was on drugs – it’s a bit like I think parents must feel when they have a kid who does something bad and lets them down.
“I feel like he let me down and he let the sport down.”
Gay failed three tests for using steroid creams which he later admitted he had been using before the London Olympics.
The 32-year-old won silver in the 4x100m in London but was later stripped of his medal when his results for 2012 were erased.
