Cuban discus thrower Yarelys Barrios has been stripped of her Beijing 2008 silver medal for retrospectively failing a drugs test at the Games following re-analysis of samples conducted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Barrios, who threw 63.64 meters on her way to finishing second behind American Stephanie Brown Tanton, tested positive for prohibited substance acetazolamide, a diuretic and masking agent.
The 33-year-old, also a bronze medalist at London 2012, has been ordered to return her silver medal she won at the Games in the Chinese capital.
The Cuban was awarded bronze from the event in London after silver medalist Darya Pishchalnikova of Russia was disqualified for doping.
Ukrainian Olena Antonova, who was given a two-year doping ban when she had already retired for testing positive at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, could be in line to be upgraded to Olympic silver.
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.
Barrios, a four-time World Championships medallist, was one of two athletes to have been named by the IOC today, along with Qatari sprinter Samuel Adelebari Francis.
The 29-year-old, 100 metres Asian champion in 2007, has had his results from Beijing 2008 disqualified.
He finished 16th in the 100m and did not start in the 200m.
A re-analysis of the sample the Qatari gave at the Games was found to have contained banned substance stanozolol.
The sanctions announced by the IOC come after the organisation stripped four athletes of medals from Beijing 2008 for retrospectively testing positive yesterday.
Russian weightlifter Marina Shainova was stripped of her Olympic silver medal from the Games in Beijing, with compatriot Nadezda Evstyukhina ordered to return her Beijing 2008 bronze.
Another Russian, 400m runner Tatyana Firova, was also named but Russia had already been stripped of their 4×400 metres relay silver after Anastasiya Kapachinskaya failed a retrospective test from the Games last month.
Men’s 69 kilograms bronze medallist Tigran Martirosyan of Armenia has lost his Olympic weightlifting bronze.
Weightlifters Alexandru Dudoglo of Moldova and Azerbaijan’s Intigam Zairov did not earn medals in Beijing but were also disqualified yesterday.
The IOC are continuing to reveal the names of those implicated as part of the retests, with 98 positive tests uncovered from Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
A total of 60 positives from Beijing 2008 were uncovered by the IOC following the retests and 15 of those athletes have been sanctioned thus far.
Seven were recorded during the Games themselves, with a further five revealed after reanalysis conducted in 2009, according to the IOC.
By Liam Morgan
Republished with permission from insidethegames.biz