The gold medallist in one of track and field's glamour races and a silver winner in cycling are among six athletes from the Beijing Games nabbed for blood doping in the latest Olympic drug scandal.
National sports bodies in Bahrain and Italy confirmed yesterday that 1,500-metre champion Rashid Ramzi and road race medallist Davide Rebellin turned up positive for the new blood-boosting drug CERA in retests of their samples.
Dominican women's weightlifter Yudelquis Contreras and prominent German cyclist Stephan Schumacher were among the others.
A person with knowledge of the results told The Associated Press that Greek race walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800-metre runner Vanja Perisic also tested positive.
If their backup 'B' samples also come back positive, the athletes face being disqualified, stripped of medals and banned from the next Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee announced on Tuesday that a total of seven positive tests - involving six athletes