Beijing 1,500 gold medallist tests positive

By Karolos Grohmann

STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) - Bahrain's Olympic 1,500 metres gold medallist Rashid Ramzi and two cyclists are among six athletes to test positive for the blood booster CERA at the Beijing Olympics, officials said on Wednesday.

Italy's road race silver medallist Davide Rebellin and German Stefan Schumacher, who is already banned for doping, were confirmed to have tested positive for CERA along with Ramzi in re-tests of samples taken in Beijing last year.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said on Tuesday it had discovered seven more positive drugs results from re-testing samples taken from Beijing involving six athletes.

The Italian and Bahrain Olympic Committees confirmed the Rebellin and Ramzi positives while the German cycling federation said Schumacher had tested positive.

Sources close to the IOC investigation said Greece's 2004 Athens Games 20 km walk champion Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800 metres runner Vanja Perisic had also tested positive for CERA in Beijing.

Local media in Zagreb quoted senior members of the Croatian National Olympic committee (HOO) as confirming Perisic had failed a dope test. Perisic was eliminated in the first round in Beijing.

Tsoumeleka, 27, who finished ninth in Beijing, was a surprise winner in Athens after finishing only seventh in the Paris world championships in the previous year.

The Bahrain Olympic Committee said it would meet Ramzi, the country's first Olympic champion, to inform him of the findings and hear his explanation.