Fight Against Doping -- Six More Beijing Olympians Fail Tests

Bahrain's Rashid Ramzi could lose his country's first track and field gold. (Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images)Two Olympic medalists and a German cyclist are among the six athletes to test positive for the blood booster CERA in the IOC's retests of drug samples from the Beijing Games. CERA is the newest variant of the hormone EPO.

Bahrain's 1500-meter runner Rashid Ramzi faces being stripped of his country's first track and field gold. He is one of two medalists who risk losing their Beijing medals.

The Italian Olympic Committee confirmed Wednesday that Davide Rebellin of Italy who came second behind Spain's Samuel Sanchez in the road race cycling event had tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug. He immediately rejected the result, saying it was “a mistake.”

Weightlifter Yudelquis Contreras was identified by the Dominican Olympic Committee as also failing the CERA test.

Meanwhile, Germany's cycling federation confirmed that Stefan Schumacher had failed the test for the performance-enhancing hormone EPO.

The IAAF told Around the Rings it had been notified by the IOC that three track and field athletes had produced positive results but would not confirm any names. However, the Associated Press reported that Greek race walker Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin celebrates after winning silver in the men's road race in Beijing. He would be stripped of the medal if found guilty of doping. (Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images) Athanasia Tsoumeleka and 800-meter runner Vanja Perisic, from Croatia, are the others. Neither reached the podium in their event.

In a statement, the world athletics governing body said it would wait for further details from the IOC before considering any provisional suspension of the athletes, with a decision not expected within the next week.

“Just as the IAAF has already re-analyzed its own samples taken prior to Beijing, the IAAF would like to commend the IOC for their efforts in the storage and re-analysis of samples and for their coordination with the IAAF in this process.

“This step shows that athletes who cheat can never be comfortable that they will avoid detection and sends a strong message of deterrence,” the statement said.

Tuesday's announcement by the IOC regarding the six athletes follows the disqualification of nine athletes during the Olympics for doping violations. Forty were sanctioned prior to the start of the Games.

In line with IOC policy, the athletes were not identified but their national Olympic Committees were informed of the adverse analytical findings so they can organize disciplinary proceedings.

The U.S. Olympic Committee, along with the British and Australian NOCs were quick to confirm they had not been contacted by the IOC.

IOC Vice President Thomas Bach said the new doping cases showed no athlete could feel safe as a result of follow-up doping controls. The chairman of the IOC's disciplinary commission insisted the retesting plan was a step forward in the fight against doping.

“It is a confirmation that the system is functioning. I hope these results will have a deterrent effect,” Bach told German press agency DPA.

In an IOC statement, Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of its medical commission, said: “The further analysisGermany's cycling federation confirmed that Stefan Schumacher was one of the six athletes. (Getty Images)of the Beijing samples that we conducted should send a clear message that cheats can never assume that they have avoided detection.

“The vast majority of athletes do not seek an unfair advantage. We intend to do all we can to ensure that they have a fair environment for competition.”

Pending any disciplinary action by the IOC, international federations have the power to impose provisional suspensions of athletes from competition.

Any athletes found guilty of doping would be disqualified from the Olympics and stripped of any medals they won. They would also be automatically banned from the London 2012 Games under the IOC's new eligibility rules. The IOC will rule on the redistribution of Olympic medals at a later date.

The IOC said it conducted retests of 948 samples for CERA (847) and insulin (101) from the nearly 5,000 drug tests carried out at the Beijing Olympics, the largest crackdown on doping cheats ever mounted for an Olympic Games.

The retesting program, which began in January, focused primarily on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics and came after reliable test methods to detect CERA and insulin were launched last autumn. Most of the work was conducted at the WADA-accredited laboratory in Lausanne, in close collaboration with accredited labs in Paris and Cologne, Germany.

With reporting from Mark Bisson.

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