Beijing athletes tested positive for blood doping

Bahrain\'s first Olympic track and field gold medallist, an Italian cycling silver medallist and a prominent German cyclist are among the six athletes caught for blood doping in retests of their Beijing samples.



The national sport body in Bahrain says 1,500-metre champion Rashid Ramzi tested positive for the new blood-boosting drug CERA.



The national sport associations in Italy and Germany confirmed today that road race medallist Davide Rebellin and rider Stephan Schumacher had also tested positive for the new blood-boosting drug CERA.



The Dominican Olympic Committee says women’s weightlifter Yudelquis Contreras also tested positive for doping at Beijing. Contreras competed in the 53-kilogram category as Yudelquis Maridalin. She finished fifth.



A person with knowledge of the results told The Associated Press that Greek race walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka and Croatian 800-meter runner Vanja Perisic were the other track athletes who 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.



Jamaican Usain Bolt dominated the Beijing Games with three gold medals.



Bolt set world records in winning the 100-metre gold in 9.69 seconds, the 200-metre title in 19.30 and then helped Jamaica to the 4 x 100- metre relay gold also in record time.