Six Beijing Games medalists among nine more positive re-tests

BERLIN (Reuters) - Six medalists from the 2008 Beijing Games had their medals stripped by the International Olympic Committee on Wednesday after they tested positive for banned substances in re-tests of their samples, the IOC said. Three other athletes were also disqualified after the re-tests. Uzbeki Soslan Tigiev, who won a wrestling silver in the men's freestyle 74kg event, Ukraine weightlifter Olha Korobka, second in the +75kg category and Belarus weightlifter Andrei Rybakou, second in the 85kg category, were among those caught using banned substances. Kazakh freestyle wrestler Taimuraz Tigiyev, who won silver in the freestyle, Nastassia Novikava of Belarus, a bronze medalist in the 53kg weightlifting event and fellow bronze medalist Ekaterina Volkova, third in the women’s 3000m steeplechase event were the other athletes who lost their medals. The list of nine doping offenders released by the IOC was completed by Spanish hurdler Josephine Nnkiruka Onyia, Cuban long jumper Wilfredo Martinez and Azeri weightlifter Sardar Hasanov. The IOC said all athletes tested positive in the re-test off their samples which it stores for a decade. (Reporting by Karolos Grohmann)