Drugs in Sport:Bahrain's Olympic 1,500 metres champion Rashid Ramzi has been stripped of his gold medal for doping, a source within the Olympic movement said today. Four other athletes have also been sanctioned for doping.
The athletes who finished in second, third and fourth place now stand to be upgraded, with the decision resting on the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Italy's road race silver medallist Davide Rebellin was also stripped of his medal, according to the source. Rebellin was ordered to return the silver by Italy's Olympic Committee yesterday.
A total of six athletes had initially tested positive for doping after blood sample retests from Beijing were conducted months after the Games.
The athletes all had tested positive for Cera, the new generation of erythropoietin (EPO).
Apart from Ramzi and Rebellin, German Stefan Schumacher, already banned for doping, was also confirmed positive as were Greece's 2004 Athens Games 20km walk champion Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800 metres runner Vanja Perisic.
Dominican Republic weightlifter Yudelquis Contreras initially tested positive but was cleared after her B sample came back negative.
Nine other athletes tested positive in tests conducted during the Games as well as six horses in the equestrian events.
The IOC conducted the largest ever doping operation with about 5,000 blood and urine tests during the Beijing Games.
Ramzi is the highest profile track athlete to fail a dope test at a Games since Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson tested positive in Seoul in 1988.
The Moroccan turned Bahraini first burst onto the world scene at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, winning the 800-1,500 metre double,
Born and raised in Morocco as Rachid Khoula, he won a silver medal his native country at the African Juniors in 1999. But he soon found himself unable to break onto the senior team and gained Bahraini citizenship in 2001.