Fight Against Doping -- IPC Unhappy, Tour Riders Retested

Ahmed Coskun was sent home by the German Olympic Sports Union after he failed a drug test at the Beijing Paralympics. He was one of four Paralympians to fail drug tests, the other three were powerlifters. (Getty Images)IPC Unhappy About Positive Drug Tests

IPC Chairman Philip Craven lamented the positive drug tests during the Beijing Paralympics on Wednesday.

"The Winter Games were free of it in Turino Games completely. So we are not happy that there are still three positive tests. I don't think that we are going away and laughing at this and saying that was a pretty good Games in the doping point of view," said Craven.

"Those three tests are something that we don't want and we will fight to catch the cheats if they keep on showing on the Games even if it's only the three of them," he said.

The only positive side was that all of those drug tests detected drugs that were used outside of competition.

"Each of them is out of competition. To date, we haven't had one in-competition doping case," he said. "We think that what have been put in place here, with great cooperation with BOCOG, has showed that the Paralympic Games are near enough free of doping."

Multiple Tour Riders Retested for EPO

Several riders from the Tour de France have had their blood samples retested for EPO.

The head of the French Anti-Doping Agency told the AP that the riders being retested were under scrutiny for "suspicious" urine samples.

"I have decided that we will retest — with blood testing — all those who showed up as suspicious during the urine samples," Pierre Bordry said.

"When we did the urine samples of those athletes, we had a serious suspicion that there was CERA. The laboratory could not say definitively. The same analysis will be done, but in the blood samples."

The new tests will look specifically for a new variant of EPO called CERA. An Italian rider tested positive for CERA during the Tour.

All samples will be reanalyzed in a French lab. Results could be announced Tour organizers are retesting blood samples from several riders for a new variant of EPO. (Getty Images)in two weeks.

FIFA Welcomes CAS Decision Regarding Brazilian Player Dodo

FIFA says it welcomes the decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport to uphold appeals filed by FIFA and the global doping watchdog, WADA, regarding the case of Brazilian Ricardo Lucas (Dodo).

CAS suspended the player from football for two years until Nov. 7, 2009.

Although Dodo tested positive in an anti-doping control test carried out on June 14, 2007 after the Botafogo vs. Vasco da Gama match, he had been cleared by the highest Brazilian sports court.

FIFA and WADA had each filed an appeal with CAS requesting the two-year ban.

"This is a very important decision by CAS and marks a very big step in the fight against doping," FIFA President Sepp Blatter said. "FIFA is highly committed to the battle against doping and will continue to do all it possibly can to combat this scourge of the sport."

FIFA said it was happy with WADA’s decision to impose a two year ban on Brazilian football player Dodo. (Getty Images)…Briefs

The entire Cypriot national anti-doping committee resigned over a row with the Cyprus Sports Organization. Doctor Evagoras Nicolaides, chair of the anti-doping committee, said the resignation was due to the CSP’s "direct sabotage of our efforts." Nicolaides went on to say that CSP leaders were undermining their work. President of the CSP Nikos Kartakoulis said the CSP had done nothing of the sort. Kartakoulis said some disagreements happened in the past, but the CSP could not be held responsible for them. A temporary anti-doping committee will be formed to handle anti-doping cases.

…Former Kazakh world champion in triathlon Dmitry Gaag has been banned for two years by the International Triathlon Union after failing a drug test earlier this year. Gaag tested positive for EPO after a competition in the United States. He retired from competition before the Beijing Games due to an injury.

Written by Ed Hula III.