Source: Xinhua

04-30-2009 16:02

BEIJING, April 30 (Xinhua) -- The six more athletes were all identified for doping at the Beijing Olympic Games although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) did not name them or the sports involved.

(L-R) Qatar's Daham Najm Bashair, Bahrain's Rashid  Ramzi and Bahrain's Belall Mansoor Belal race to the  finish line during the men's 1500m race finals at the 15th Asian Games in Doha December 10, 2006. Bashair,  Belal and Ramzi took the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively. (Xinhua/Reuters, File Photo)

National sports bodies in Bahrain and Italy confirmed Wednesday that 1,500m champion Rashid Ramzi and road race medalist Davide Rebellin were among the six for positive for the new blood-boosting drug CERA in retests of their samples.

The other four were Dominican women's weightlifter Yudelquis Contreras, German cyclist Stephan Schumacher, Greek race walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800m runner Vanja Perisic.

If their backup "B" samples also come back positive, the athletes face being disqualified, stripped of medals and banned from the next Olympics.

The six new cases bring to 15 the total number of athletes caught doping in the Beijing Olympics.

The IOC reanalyzed a total of 948 samples from Beijing after new lab tests for CERA and insulin became available following the Olympics. The testing began in January and focused mainly on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and track and field.