4 athletes stripped of medals from 2008 Beijing Games

Three more Russian Olympic medallists have tested positive for banned substances in retroactive dope tests originally taken at Beijing 2008, Games organisers the IOC said on Wednesday, August 31. This time four medalists from the Beijing Olympics tested positive in dope tests.

Several Azerbaijani, Ukrainian and Kazakh wrestlers will lose the Olympic medals they won at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 after testing positive for doping, Haqqin.az reports.

Barrios also competed at the 2012 London Olympics, where she was upgraded to the bronze medal after a Russian was stripped of the silver for doping.

Song Aimin of China, who was fourth in the women’s discus competition at Beijing 2008, is now set to be given the bronze medal.

Intigam Zairov of Azerbaijan has also been sanctioned and his ninth-place finish in the men’s 85kg weightlifting has been voided.

A silver medal advertised on ebay, shown in included photographs as being from the Beijing 2008 women’s discus event, was sold in June by a Cuban seller based in Canada for $11,655 (£8,899). The latest tests can detect the use of steroids going back weeks and months, rather than days.

Marina Shainova of Russian Federation who won silver in the women’s 58kg weightlifting.

Barrios’ samples tested positive for acetazolamide, a diuretic and masking agent, while Francis’ samples tested positive for stanozolol, the International Olympic Committee said. The former Asian 100m champion tested positive for the banned substance stanozolol.

The bronze medal in the men’s 69kg weightlifting class was stripped from Armenia’s Tigram Martirosyan, who tested positive for stanozolol and turinabol.

Bronze medal-winning weighlighter Tigran Martirosyan of Armenia and fellow weighlifters Alexandru Dudoglo of Moldova and Intigam Zairov of Azerbaijan were also disqualified, the International Olympic Committee said in a statement.