http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article. ... y=ice_newsKostner's boyfriend booted from Summer GamesDefending race walking champion Alex Schwazer tested positive for banned substance on July 30
(08/07/2012) - The boyfriend of reigning Italian world champion Carolina Kostner, Alex Schwazer, was expelled Monday from the 2012 Summer Olympic Games after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
The test was administered by the World Anti-Doping Agency on July 30 in Oberstdorf, Germany, the city in which Kostner lives and trains.
Schwazer is the defending Olympic champion in the 50-kilometer race walking event.
This has been an eventful off-season for Kostner. She told the Italian sports magazine Gente in early July that was considering retiring from the sport, but a few days later announced on her website her intentions to continue competing through the 2014 Olympic Games.
Last Thursday, Aug. 2, Kostner's name appeared scratched from the entry lists for her two Grand Prix events this fall, the Cup of China and Trophée Eric Bompard.
Schwazer's agent, Giulia Mancini, released the following statement on Tuesday:
"Carolina is standing by her partner at this time, but her decision to return to competition at the end of the year has nothing to do with these events. She loves her Alex very much and will stay with him, but she is skipping the first events on 2 October -- not in August as some have said -- because she decided only in July to continue competing and would not have been fit. She and her coach preferred to come back in December for the Italian championships, and work towards the European and World Championships in March. Carolina's competitive career is separate from Alex's."
(It is unclear which events Mancini is referring to in August and October, as Kostner's Grand Prix events take place in November.)