The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on Monday dismissed appeals by two Chinese weightlifters against being stripped of Olympic gold medals from 2008 for doping offences.
Cao Lei and Liu Chunhong were disqualified from the women's 69- kilogram and 75-kg categories at the Beijing Games after reanalysis of their samples showed traces of a banned growth hormone.
Liu also tested positive for another banned substance sibutramine. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is reanalysing more than 1,000 doping samples from the 2008 and 2012 Games using improved analytical methods.
Cao and Liu were originally sanctioned by the IOC in January this year.