Cyclist named in Olympic CERA positives
Six Olympians have tested positive for the EPO variant CERA, the International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday. La Gazzetta dello Sport has reported that the positive athlete is Davide Rebellin, who took second in the road race in Beijing. The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has confirmed only that one of the athletes is from Italy, but has not given a name.

The IOC performed retroactive testing on the Beijing Olympic Game samples using a newly developed test for the recently introduced EPO drug Mircera, for which several riders tested positive during the 2008 Tour de France. Seven samples of 847 total tested turned up positive for CERA. Two of the positives were from the same athlete.

"The further analysis of the Beijing samples that we conducted should send a clear message that cheats can never assume that they have avoided detection," said Arne Ljungqvist, Chairman of the IOC Medical Commission. "The vast majority of athletes do not seek an unfair advantage. We intend to do all we can to ensure that they have a fair environment for competition."

The IOC said it is notifying the athletes of any "adverse analytical finding" through their National Olympic Committee (NOC).

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