Ramzi stripped of 1500 gold

The Moroccan-born Ramzi was the only gold medalist from Beijing caught using performance-enhancing drugs. He had given Bahrain its first ever Olympic track and field gold medal by winning the 1,500,one of the most prestigious events in the sport.

The IOC also stripped Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin of his silver medal in the Beijing road race,a decision which had been announced Tuesday by the Italian Olympic Committee. Also disqualified on Wednesday were German cyclist Stefan Schumacher,Croatian 800-metre runner Vanja Perisic,and Greek race walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka. They did not win medals in Beijing.

All five athletes face possible two-year bans from their international sports federations. In addition,under IOC rules,they are ineligible for the next Olympics in London in 2012. The athletes samples were collected and tested at the Beijing Games in August 2008. They tested negative at the time,but the IOC reanalysed the samples earlier this year when a fully validated test for CERA became available.

Biggest name

Ramzi was the biggest name among the five athletes caught in the retests. The IOC ordered Bahrains national Olympic committee to return his gold medal as soon as possible and asked the International

Association of Athletics Federations to modify the 1,500 results and consider any further action against Ramzi.

Asbel Kipruto Kiprop of Kenya stands to be upgraded from silver to gold in the 1,500. Nicolas Willis of New Zealand could go from bronze to silver,and fourth-place finisher Mehdi Baala of France would get the bronze.

Ramzi could appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Sebastian Coe,who won two 1,500 Olympic titles in 1980 and 1984 and is an IAAF vice president,praised the stripping of Ramzis medal one of the latest in a string of doping scandals in track and field. That was the right decision, Coe said. Cheats cannot prosper in our sport and people will realise that sooner or later… Unfortunately,that was high profile and we can do without it,but it also shows the quality of our testing procedures now.

Rebellin,the Italian cyclist,was the only other medalist caught up in the retesting cases. Samuel Sanchez of Spain won the road race in Beijing. Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland is now set to move from bronze to silver,and Alexander Kolobnev of Russia from fourth to bronze. Rebellin is the first Italian athlete stripped of an Olympic medal for doping.

Schumacher was stripped of his 13th-place finish in the Olympic individual time trial cycling race; Tsoumeleka lost her ninth-place in the womens 20K walk; and Perisic was removed of her sixth-place in a heat of the womens 800.

A sixth athlete was initially found positive in the retesting process,but womens weightlifter Yudelquis Contreras was cleared by the Dominican Olympic Committee after the B sample came back negative.

The IOC said on Wednesday that it reserves the right to reopen disciplinary procedures against Contreras in the event that new evidence comes to light.

RAMZIFILES

• Born July 17,1980 in Safi,Morocco

Early career:

• Won the silver medal for Morocco in the 1,500 meters at the African Junior Championships in 1999.

• He moved to Bahrain at the end of 2001 where he was offered a job in the military and later gained citizenship

Major achievements:

• In 2003 Ramzi won gold in the 1,500 meters at the Asian Championships before making his mark on the international scene with a silver medal at the world indoor championships in the 800 meters in 2004

• Ramzi ended Hicham El Guerroujs 29-race unbeaten record in the 1,500 meters in July 2004 making him one of the favorites for the Olympic title in Athens.

• He fell in his Olympic semi-final and finished 11th

• In 2005 Ramzi completed an unprecedented middle distance double winning the 800 and 1,500 meters titles at the world championships in Helsinki

• At the 2007 world championships in Osaka,he finished second behind Bernard Lagat in the 1,500.

• Ramzi won Bahrains first Olympic medal when he beat Kenyas Asbel Kipruto Kiprop to take gold in the 1,500 meters at the 2008 Beijing Olympics

Doping violation:

• In April 2009,Bahrains Olympic Committee announced Ramzi had failed a dope test from the Beijing Games for the banned blood-booster CERA,after frozen samples were re-tested specifically for that substance

• The International Olympic Committee announced on November 18 Ramzi was being stripped of his gold medal for anti-doping violations.