MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) -- The Bahrain Olympic Committee said Wednesday that 1,500-meter gold medalist Rashid Ramzi tested positive for doping at the Beijing Games.
Ramzi, who won the 800-1,500 double at the 2005 world championships in Helsinki, is originally from Morocco and still trains in his native country.
His win at the Bird's Nest in Beijing last August gave Bahrain its first ever Olympic track and field gold medal after he finished in 3 minutes, 32.94 seconds.
If he is stripped of his medal, Asbel Kipruto Kiprop of Kenya stands to be upgraded from silver to gold. Nicolas Willis of New Zealand would go from bronze to silver, and fourth-place finisher Mehdi Baala of France would move up to the bronze medal.
Bahrain's Olympic doping committee said it will meet with Ramzi to inform him of the positive result and hear his side of the story.
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On Tuesday, the International Olympic Committee said six athletes tested positive for CERA, an advanced version of the blood-boosting drug EPO. The IOC has not named the athletes or the sports involved.
The Italian Olympic Committee confirmed Wednesday that Olympic cycling silver medalist Davide Rebellin was one of the others to test positive for CERA. The German cycling federation said Stefan Schumacher was another.
The Bahrain Olympic Committee said Ramzi's "A' sample was opened Feb. 19 and tested positive. The committee said Ramzi's backup "B' sample will be tested in France on June 8 and that he will face an IOC hearing the same day.
"The Bahrain Olympic Committee apologizes for receiving such news from the International Olympic Committee since it ensured Ramzi went through all the necessary doping tests before the games and they were all negative," the national committee said in a statement.
Ramzi became a citizen of Bahrain after moving to the Gulf nation to take up a job in that country's armed forces in 2002, but he retains a Moroccan passport and trains with old coach Khalid Boulami.
