Rebellin loses appeal over Olympic positive test

Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin has lost his appeal against the stripping of his Olympic silver medal for doping, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said on Friday.

Rebellin was ordered to return his road race silver medal from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing after a retroactive test on his sample from the Games, carried out last year, showed traces of the latest generation of the blood-boosting erythropoietin.

Rebellin complained about the validity of testing procedures but CAS has ruled against him.

"The CAS panel has rejected all of the arguments put forward by the athlete," it said in a statement.