So it seems like Rebellin tested positive together with a few other athletes (Not sure what disciplines) in the Olympics. You gotta be damn stupid to take CERA after the positives in the TDF!!! http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2009/apr09/apr29news Cycling News Flash, April 29, 2009 Edited by Laura Weislo Cyclist named in Olympic CERA positives What is CERA? CERA, or "Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator" is version of the red blood cell production stimulating hormone Erythropoietin (EPO), which has a stabilising molecule attached to it. By adding Polyethylene Glycol to the peptide hormone, the drug is more stable and longer-acting in the body. The drug, made by Roche Pharmaceuticals, can be detected with the same urine EPO test which has been in place since the early part of the century. Due to its large size, however, the drug is less efficiently secreted in the urine. The blood test was developed as a more reliable way of detecting doping with the drug. 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 ICO confirmed that it used the same blood test used to declare Stefan Schumacher, Bernhard Kohl and Leonardo Piepoli positive following the Tour de France. "Most of the work was conducted at the WADA-accredited laboratory in Lausanne, in close collaboration with the accredited labs in Paris and Cologne," the IOC announced. According to CONI, the positive was on the 'A' sample only. Any positive athlete has the right to request confirmation testing of the 'B' sample. "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). CONI announced that it had forwarded the IOC documents onto its Antidoping prosecutor. Athletes from Italy signed a declaration before participating in the Olympic Games promising not to violate the World Anti-Doping Agency's rules. The IOC allows retroactive testing of samples up to eight years after collection, allowing athletes to be tested for substances as newly validated tests are developed. Discuss the topic in the Cyclingnews forum. Previous News Next News
