Schumacher drops appeal against Beijing DQ

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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, where he won the two individual time trial stages - those victories have since been annulled by Tour organiser ASO.

According to the report from AP, 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.

He only competed in Beijing because the laboratory at Châtenay-Malabry developed the test for EPO-CERA after the Tour and 2008 Olympics; once his blood was retroactively tested, the resulting positives came within weeks of each other.

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.

Meanwhile, former teammate at Gerolsteiner and Olympic silver medallist, Davide Rebellin, who also tested positive for the same banned substance as Schumacher, is challenging his disqualification. A date has not been set for the hearing.