The Silver and Bronze Medalists in the Hammer Throw event at the Beijing Games have been stripped of their medals for testing positive for high levels of testosterone on August 17. Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan of Belraus will forfeit their medals and Devyatovskiy, for whom this was a second offense, was hit with a lifetime Olympic ban.

The silver will now go to Krisztian Pars of Hungary and the bronze to Koji Murofushi of Japan. Primoz Kozmus of Slovenia won the gold medal.

In total, nine athletes were found guilty of doping during the Beijing Games.

Post from: EveryJoe

Hammer Throw Olympians Stripped of Medals

The United States dressage team was stripped of its fourth place finish at the 2008 Beijing Olympics on September 7 after one team member’s horse, Courtney King’s “Mythilus,” tested positive for a banned substance used as a pain killer and anti-inflammatory. King also loses her 13th place individual finish at the Games. King was given a one-month suspension, which she has already served since she was suspended at the Beijing Games.

King’s dressage team mates are Steffen Peters (on Ravel) and Debbie McDonald (on Brentina). Germany won the event with the Netherlands and Denmark taking the Silver and Bronze Medals, respectively.

Post from: EveryJoe

US Olympic Dressage Finish Disqualified for Doping

The Russian News Agency, Allsport is reporting that the Silver and Bronze Medalists in the mens hammer throw event at the Beijing Games both tested positive for trace amounts of testosterone after the event on August 17 (2008). Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan, both from Belarus, will face the IOC disciplinary commission at the end of September.

If found guilty, the pair would be disqualified and stripped of their Medals. They would be the seventh and eighth athletes disqualified for doping at the Beijing Games.

Post from: EveryJoe

Hammer Throw Medalists Face Doping Investigation

Ukranian athlete, Lyudmila Blonska, who was stripped of her Silver Medal in the heptathlon at the Beijing Games, has received a lifetime Olympic ban, according to the Ukranian Olympic Committee. Blonska tested positive for methyltestosterone on August 17 and was removed from the Games. This was her second offense. Blonska tested positive for the anabolic steroid stanozolol in 2003. Her coach/husband, Serhiy Blonsky also received a lifetime ban.

Post from: EveryJoe

Blonska Receives Lifetime Olympic Ban

The International Olympic Committee confirmed Saturday that Fani Halkia of Greece, the defending Olympic champion in the women’s 400m hurdles, tested positive for steroids in an August 10 sample. She is banned from the Beijing Games.

Halkia is the fourth athlete who has been ousted from the Games due to testing positive for a banned substance. I suppose four out of more than 10,000 athletes is a better good record, but it’s still sad to see.

Post from: EveryJoe

Defending Gold Medalist Out for Doping

Bulgaria’s Athletics Federation announced on Friday that Bulgarian middle-distance runner, Daniela Yordanova (second from left) tested postive for testosterone on June 13 and is barred from competing in the Beijing Games.

Yordanova, 32, was considered a contender for a medal in the 1500m event. She finished fifth in that race in Athens.

Post from: EveryJoe

Another Athlete Ousted for Doping

North Korean athlete, Jong Su Kim (shown above) was stripped of his two medals and his Olympic privledges today after testing positive for propranolol on August 9 and 12, the IOC announced. Kim was awarded the Silver Medal in teh 50m pistol event and the Bronze Medal in the 10m air pistol competition.

Propranolol is a rather controversial drug used to treat hypertension among other conditions.

The Bronze Medal in the 10m air pistol competition will now go to Jason Turner of the United States. The original Bronze Medal recipient in the 50m pistol event, Tan Zongliang of China, will now receive the Silver Medal, and Vladimir Isakov of Russia will receive the Bronze Medal in that event.

Post from: EveryJoe

Korean Shooter Stripped of Medals

Jones’ confession follows Floyd Landis loss of his Tour de France title due to drug use. With all of these doping-related scandals, athletes and sports in general risk losing our trust.

Without a doubt, this is a bad thing. We all rage at the unfairness of life, at people who get ahead because they know the right people or invested in improvements like breast implants, which can arguably be interpreted as artificial enhancements of sorts. We can also argue that Yao Ming enjoys an unfair advantage because the Chinese government set up his 6′10″ dad with his 6′8″ mom. We love sports because the game is supposed to be the last refuge of fairness.

Is it any wonder that we come down hard on athletes who are caught cheating? Performance-enhancing drugs threaten to destroy the illusion that successful athletes win based on their own merit. The cycling world is losing its audience, thanks to all the negative publicity focused on the story of Tour de France’s recently dethroned champion.

Organized sports will suffer terribly, as more athletes are found guilty of wrongly tipping the scales in their favor. Can we still look up to our sports heroes and continue believing in them, when some notable examples have broken our trust?

Let’s see if the IOC and all governing bodies involved in the 2008 Olympics can come up with a system that truly keeps the game clean. It doesn’t help that it’s now cool to win at any cost.

Post from: EveryJoe

Marion Jones Confesses to Doping and Retires: Can we Still Trust Athletes?