By Canadian Press

Cuban stripped of silver medal in 2008 discus for doping

Sep 1, 2016 | 5:45 AM

LAUSANNE, Switzerland — Yarelys Barrios of Cuba was stripped of the silver medal in the women’s discus from the 2008 Beijing Olympics on Thursday after testing positive in a reanalysis of her doping samples.

Barrios tested positive for acetazolamide, a banned diuretic and masking agent, the International Olympic Committee said in the latest of a string of doping cases from past Olympics.

The 33-year-old Barrios has been retroactively disqualified and loses the silver medal, which she won with a throw of 63.64 metres. The silver now stands to go to Olena Antonova of Ukraine, with China’s Song Aimin in line to move from fourth to bronze. Stephanie Brown Tratfton of the United States won the gold with a throw of 64.74 metres.

Barrios also competed at the 2012 London Olympics, where she was upgraded from fourth place to the bronze medal after Russia’s Darya Pishchainikova was retroactively stripped of the silver for doping.

The IOC asked track and field’s governing body, the IAAF, to modify the 2008 discus results and consider any further action against Barrios, who was also a two-time silver medallist at the world championships and two-time gold medallist in the Pan American Games.

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Also Thursday, Qatari sprinter Samuel Adelebari Francis was disqualified from the Beijing Games after testing positive for the steroid stanozolol. The Nigerian-born Francis was eliminated in the 100-meter heats and did not start in the 200.

Francis was the 100-meter champion at the 2007 Asian Games in Amman, winning in a personal best time of 9.99 seconds.

Barrios and Francis are the latest athletes sanctioned after retests of more than 1,000 samples from the Beijing and London Olympics produced 98 positive cases. On Wednesday, six athletes — including four medallists — were disqualified for doping in Beijing.

The IOC stores samples for 10 years to allow them to be reanalyzed when improved methods become available. The latest tests can detect the use of steroids going back weeks and months, rather than days.

The Associated Press