Sport

Two positive doping tests confirmed at Sochi Games

Italian and German athlete to take no further part at Winter Olympics

Two athletes have returned positive doping samples at the Sochi Winter Games. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
Two athletes have returned positive doping samples at the Sochi Winter Games. Photograph: Fabrizio Bensch/Reuters
Fri Feb 21 2014 - 16:03

Italian bobsleigh athlete William Frullani has tested positive for a banned substance at the Sochi Winter Olympics and will not compete with the team on Sunday, Italian officials said on Friday.

Frullani is the second athlete to test positive for drugs at the Games. The German ski federation said earlier on Friday one of their biathletes had also failed a doping test for a stimulant. It did not name the athlete.

The 34-year-old Frullani, a former track and field athlete, tested positive for the substance dymetylpentylamine, also found in nasal decongestants, and has left the village.

Italian officials said they had got the green light from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to replace Frullani in their four-man bobsleigh team with the competition set for Sunday, the final day of the Olympics.

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“The Italian Olympic Committee (Coni) now needs to sort out the composition of the bobsleigh team which Frullani was part of, to make it back up to four,” Coni said in a statement.

“They have requested that the athlete be replaced with the reserve Samuele Romanini and clearance for this has been received from the IOC. ”

Earlier the German Olympic Committee (DOSB) confirmed that an unnamed biathlete tested positive for a stimulant.

“We know who is it but we cannot give a name,” the federation’s Stefan Schwarzbach said.

“As far as I know it is a stimulant that you sometimes find in extra nutrition (nutritional supplements). So, no EPO or things like that.”

Earlier, the German Olympic Committee (DOSB) said it had been informed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Thursday evening that a team member had failed a test and a disciplinary commission would convene later in the day after the athlete’s B sample was tested.