IOC Declares 6 positive for CERA in Bejing Games?, Wondering if any cyclists are among those found non-negative Options

[Perico]

from ESPN:

Six test positive for new form of EPO
Associated Press

LONDON -- Six Olympic athletes have turned up positive for doping in retests on samples from the Beijing Games.

The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday that a total of seven positive tests involving six athletes came back positive for CERA, an advanced version of the blood-boosting drug EPO.

The IOC did not name the athletes or sports involved, saying it was notifying the athletes through their national Olympic committees. The Italian Olympic Committee said one of the positive samples belonged to one of its male athletes, who was left unidentified.

"Due to the presumption of innocence, the IOC will not comment on any individual case," the IOC said.

The IOC reanalyzed a total of 948 samples from Beijing after new lab tests for CERA and insulin became available after the Olympics.

The testing, which began in January, focused mainly on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and track and field.

"The further analysis of the Beijing samples that we conducted should send a clear message that cheats can never assume that they have avoided detection," said Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC medical commission.

The IOC will wait for word from the national Olympic bodies before holding any disciplinary hearings.

Athletes found guilty of doping face being disqualified from the Olympics and stripped of any medals they have won. In the meantime, national and international bodies are free to impose provisional suspensions of athletes, the IOC said.

The Italian Olympic Committee said its athlete had been informed along with the committee's anti-doping prosecutor. Italian officials said they had not been authorized by the IOC to identify the athlete.

A Greek race walker, Athanasia Tsoumeleka, announced in January that she had tested positive in the new Beijing checks. Tsoumeleka, who finished ninth in Beijing in the 20K walk, was charged by a Greek prosecutor earlier this month with using banned drugs.

The IOC previously disqualified nine athletes for doping at the Aug. 8-24 Olympics. In addition, there were six doping cases involving horses in the equestrian competition.

The IOC is storing doping samples for eight years so they can be tested retroactively when new detection methods are developed.

All's quiet on the cycling front thus far...

[RTT]

According to Il Espresso Rebellin is one...

[bodomaniac]

According to Il Espresso Rebellin is one...

Unfortunately I can't say this comes as a surprise. After having been involved in a doping scandal earlier this decade and of course having ridden for Gerolsteiner more recently this is just par for the course as it concerns Tin-Tin. His days are numbered and I, for one, will be glad to see him go. I never did like him as a rider, not that it's any justification for dismissal. He just looks like a little weasel to me. Kind of like Pee-Wee Herman.

This post has been edited by bodomaniac: Apr 28 2009, 07:13 PM

[Tom T.]

According to Il Espresso Rebellin is one...

That would explain a lot.

[DwayneBarry]

According to Il Espresso Rebellin is one...

And he's had such a poor spring, good thing they came up with the CERA test to stop him from doping

[bianchigirl]

The 4 sports involved are cycling, swimming, athletics and rowing with possibly more to come from cycling.

Rebellin was caught on video during the Oil for Drugs scandal but managed to escape a sanction. Whilst you have to hand it to him for getting away with it for so long, I won't miss him.

Athletes concerned are from cycling (2, one of whom is Rebellin), track and field (3 including one goild medallist) and weightlifting (1)

This post has been edited by bianchigirl: Apr 28 2009, 08:32 PM

[Roadent]

See what doping does? My assured, oh, 23rd place finish in the Canadian Cyclist Classics prediction contest is now bumped down to 47th...all because I was naive enough to believe (really, really believe) in TinTin...

Ok now, bets on who the cough<Sanchez>cough other busted rider is?


Hmm, is this going to suddenly change the UCI's mind, again, about releasing the Bio-passport positives?

[RTT]

Ok now, bets on who the cough<Sanchez>cough other busted rider is?

The link to the article I posted does mention him as the other cycling positive..

[Lister Farrar]

See what doping does? My assured, oh, 23rd place finish in the Canadian Cyclist Classics prediction contest is now bumped down to 47th...all because I was naive enough to believe (really, really believe) in TinTin...

Ok now, bets on who the cough<Sanchez>cough other busted rider is?
Hmm, is this going to suddenly change the UCI's mind, again, about releasing the Bio-passport positives?

I wondered whether the withdrawn announcement had anything to do with this.

[bodomaniac]

Hmm, is this going to suddenly change the UCI's mind, again, about releasing the Bio-passport positives?

Right, especially if some of the names are the same as the riders the IOC has targeted.

[Lister Farrar]

The link to the article I posted does mention him as the other cycling positive..

CN suggests it isn't Sanchez, ie it's not a medalist...

AP reports also that two of the six were medalists, one in cycling, the other a gold-medal winning track and field athlete.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=new...apr09/apr29news

[shag]

According to Il Espresso Rebellin is one...

Why the sad faces? Isn't it good news when a doper is caught? I guess if it was a positive out of Garmin or Highroad that would be sad, if only because then we really have nothing at all left to hope in / believe in.

[formerlyfit]

The link to the article I posted does mention him as the other cycling positive..

I couldn't find that mention at all. It only mentions Sanchez when it says Rebellin was second behind him. It says here were 7 positive samples from 6 athletes, and that apart from cycling there were 3 cases in athletics (including a gold medal) and 2 in weightlifting.

[OAR]

Why the sad faces? Isn't it good news when a doper is caught? I guess if it was a positive out of Garmin or Highroad that would be sad, if only because then we really have nothing at all left to hope in / believe in.

Not true! "Hope rides again" and don't you "believe in miracles"?

[shag]

Not true! "Hope rides again" and don't you "believe in miracles"?

OAR, you are right, I forgot about Him. Oh, my chevalier!

[Velo]

I couldn't find that mention at all. It only mentions Sanchez when it says Rebellin was second behind him. It says here were 7 positive samples from 6 athletes, and that apart from cycling there were 3 cases in athletics (including a gold medal) and 2 in weightlifting.

Only two medalists on the list, one in cycling (Rebellin, it would seem) and a "male gold medalist" (so the AP reports) in track. So that would indicate that the other cycling medalists - Sanchez, Cancellara, Larsson, and Leiphiemer - are safe.

Also, neither the British or the US agencies have been notified, so that would seem to indicate that neither British or American athletes were involved.

btw, what are the chances that the other cyclist is Schumacher? That would make sense.

whoops, forgot the link: http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/news/story?id=4107810

This post has been edited by Velo: Apr 28 2009, 09:10 PM

[Strategy]

Takes aim for foot with shotgun... Boom!

It is impossible to taking the UCI and its talk of Cycling's "fight against doping" seriously, when top riders again and again get exposed as dopers as soon as they compete outside of the UCI's carefully monitored programs. CERA is supposed to be easy to detect - yet despite having the "best anti-doping program in sports", the only time riders have been caught using this very detectable drug has been in controls by the AFLD and WADA (IOC).

As for Rebellin, my disgust has no words if the news prove true.

[Kiwi]

"Two of the athletes were medalists, the Associated Press said, citing an unidentified person familiar with the test results. While AP didn’t identify the two, it said one was a male gold medalist in track and field and the other a cyclist.

"The Italian news agency ANSA identified the cyclist as Davide Rebellin, a silver medalist in the men’s road race."

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=206...&refer=home

Not his first brush with trouble, of course:

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/rebe...ial-begins-9890



This post has been edited by Kiwi: Apr 28 2009, 09:28 PM

[The Rake]

Also, neither the British or the US agencies have been notified, so that would seem to indicate that neither British or American athletes were involved.

That would rule out most of the medallists then!

...sorry couldn't help it. Bad Rake!

Actually, I was nervous when I read it...

This post has been edited by The Rake: Apr 28 2009, 09:33 PM

[Hombre]

Why he heck did they wait till after the Ardennes and let him steal one more victory.

Hanst he gotten his AARP card by now.
No surprises here.
Won't even be tempted to say it.