The Court of Arbitration
for Sport (CAS) has announced that banned rider Stefan Schumacher
yesterday dropped his appeal against disqualification from the 2008
Beijing Olympics after his positive test for EPO-CERA.
He was previously appealing the sanction imposed by the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) after traces of the banned blood
booster were found in a blood sample taken during the Games. It came
after the 28-year-old German was handed a two-year suspension for use of
the same substance during that year’s Tour de France. Schumacher would
be unable to compete in the London Olympics because under IOC
anti-doping rules, athletes are ruled ineligible for the Games if they
receive a doping ban of more than six months. Remarkably, while the
possible sanction resulting from his Olympics positive is still pending,
should any appeals against punishment for the second EPO-CERA positive
be successful, Schumacher would be eligible to compete again from August
28 this year.
