Romanian gymnast stripped of gold

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Sydney: Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan has been stripped of her all-round gold medal after testing positive for a drug banned by the International Olympic Committee, IOC German executive board member Thomas Bach said on Tuesday.

The Romanian team doctor has been expelled and suspended from the next Games in 2004 because, said Bach, he had "the real responsibility because he gave the girl the medicine which led to the positive test."

However, Raducan is to be allowed to keep a team gold and a silver she won earlier in the Games.

Romanian Olympic Committee president Ioan Tiriac told reporters Raducan had tested positive for pseudo-ephedrine after taking Nurofen, an over-the-counter medicine, to treat a cold.

Raducan, who will be 17 on Saturday, won the women's artistic all-round title last Thursday as well as the team gold and the silver in the vault.

Anita de Frantz, IOC US executive board member, welcomed the decision to expel the doctor.

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

De Franz said she felt that in general people close to athletes involved in doping should also be punished.

"Doctors, coaches, entourage - I think all of them should be gone."

Staying on

Despite being stripped of the gold, Raducan will not be expelled from the Sydney Games.

Earlier, IOC medical chief Prince Alexandre de Merode had confirmed there had been a positive test, but added, "We consider it was not a voluntary action." Tiriac said, "She was declared positive for one medicine that is called pseudo-ephedrine. That is a medicine that is not on the list of all of the gymnastics federations but is on the list of the IOC."

Tiriac said Raducan had been shattered by the news.

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

"These Nurofen, probably at her size and her weight, made this positive test," he said.

Tiriac said the medicine was not performance-enhancing and was taken solely as a cold remedy.

"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.

Tiriac said the Romanians, whose weightlifters were thrown out of the Olympics last week for doping and then reinstated, were sensitive to drugs issues and had filled out forms with all the medicines taken by athletes in the last week.

He said Romania had indicated to the IOC those athletes who might have a similar problem to Raducan.



(c) Reuters Limited.