CUBAN DISCUS THROWER Yarelys Barrios has been stripped of her Olympic silver medal from the 2008 Beijing Games and ordered to return her it immediately.
However, it appears that she sold the medal on eBay in June.
Barrios was stripped of the medal for failing a retroactive drug test, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said today.
But details have since emerged that a Cuban seller sold a silver medal from the women’s discus event in Beijing on eBay in June of this year for US$11,655 (€10,410).
Barrios, 33, and Qatari track and field athlete Samuel Adelebari Francis, 29, tested positive for banned substances in tests originally taken at Beijing 2008.
The Cuban athlete tested positive for the diuretic and masking agent acetazolamide, and has now been ordered to return her medal. She also won bronze in London 2012.
Nigeria-born Francis, who now represents Qatar, finised 16th in the 100m event. The former Asian 100m champion tested positive for the banned substance stanozolol.
“The IAAF is requested to modify the results … accordingly and to consider any further action within its own competence,” the IOC said in a statement.
Ukrainian Olena Antonova won the discus bronze medal in Beijing behind Barrios, with China’s Song Aimin finishing fourth.
Several hundred samples taken from athletes in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 have been retested at the request of the IOC. Of those, 98 tested positive including 60 for Beijing.
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