Cold cure drug costs Raducan gold

Add as a preferred source on Google

Sydney: Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan was stripped of her artistic all-round Olympic gold medal on Tuesday after testing positive for a banned drug contained in a remedy she took for a cold.

The International Olympic Committee also said it had expelled Romania's team doctor, Joachim Oana, from the Sydney Olympics for administering the over-the-counter medicine Nurofen to the tiny teenager. It banned him from the 2002 Winter and 2004 Summer Games.

IOC director general Francois Carrard said Raducan, who will be 17 on Saturday, had taken the cure in all innocence and gained no competitive advantage from the stimulant pseudo-ephedrine that it contained.

But Jacques Rogge, a member of the IOC medical commission, told Reuters Raducan had to lose her medal out of fairness to her rivals.

"Removing the medal is a matter of justice for the other athletes. In a way she's innocent, but she had a competitive advantage because of the drug and this distorted the competition.

"Out of fairness to the others who competed in a clean state, she has to be removed from the results. It's hard, it's not pleasant but we owe it to the other athletes," Rogge added.

Carrard said the ruling showed the IOC was determined to eradicate doping in sport through a policy of zero tolerance.

"It's tough, but that's what it's all about," Carrard told a news conference. "In the fight against doping, we have to be tough and refrain from emotions and feelings," he said.

"We're not looking for whether there is intention or not."

Two pills that cost gold

Carrard said Raducan would be allowed to keep a team gold as well as a vaulting silver she won earlier in the Games and would not be expelled from the Olympics.The svelte Romanian, who weighs just 37kg (82 lbs), was not tested in the random doping controls after the team event and her result was negative after the vault, Carrard said.

He said it was "very likely" she would appeal against the disqualification to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Romanian Olympic Committee president Ion Tiriac said Raducan was shattered by the news.

"We are talking about two cold pills that you buy over the counter," he said. "We believe that this case is completely irrelevant, the athlete is the best gymnast in the world.

He said as many as eight other Romanian athletes had colds and he himself had taken Nurofen "in probably 10 times more doses" than Raducan had.

Raducan's gold from last Thursday's artistic all-round final will now go to team-mate Simona Amanar, with fellow-Romanian Maria Olaru moving up to silver and Xuan Liu of China taking bronze.

Fifth drugs case in competition

Raducan became the fifth athlete to test positive for drugs in competition at the Sydney Games. The others were three Bulgarian weightlifters, all medallists, and a Latvian rower.

Carrard said the number of positive tests in the 17-day Games was no cause for concern about the image of the Olympics.

"I think we are demonstrating to the world what we mean about fighting against doping...Sad as it may be for the athletes, at least some of them, that's the way it is going to be."

Carrard said Oana, the Romanian team doctor, had a professional and personal responsibility to ensure that athletes were kept clear of banned substances, especially in a case involving a gymnast as young as Raducan."With all due respect, he had to know better," Carrard said.

Anita de Frantz, an IOC executive board member and former US Olympic rower, welcomed Oana's expulsion.

"I have felt for far too long that they (doctors) have gotten off," she said.



(c) Reuters Limited.