The China Mail - Three sporting champions to be stripped of titles for non-doping reasons

AFP Sports picks out three previous instances:

Jim Thorpe -- 1912 Olympics

He achieved the remarkable double of winning both the decathlon and the pentathlon at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm.

Thorpe became the first Native America to be crowned Olympic champion and was hailed as the "greatest athlete in the world" by Swedish King Gustav V.

However, a few months later, in January 1913, it was revealed Thorpe had earned money playing baseball for two seasons prior to the Games.

This was forbidden as only amateurs were permitted to compete in the Olympics at the time.

He tried desperately to avoid being punished.

"I hope I will be excused, because of the fact that I was simply an Indian school boy and did not know all about such things," he wrote in a letter admitting he had taken money.

This cut no ice with the authorities the American Amateur Athletic Union) who stripped him of his titles in 1913 and shipped them back to International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The silver medallist -- a Swede Hugo Wieslander -- declined to accept the gold. Thorpe was reinstated as joint winner by the IOC in 1982 and as sole gold medallist in 2022.

Sadly he had not lived to see those days. He died penniless in 1953 from a heart attack after battling alcoholism for years.

Gehnall Persson -- 1948 Olympics

Thorpe's disqualification may have seemed tough, but Persson's over three decades later exposed a class divide, which seemed outdated post World War II.

Persson was an outstanding dressage rider, the only problem was he was a non-commissioned officer and in those days the equestrian discipline was restricted to officers only.

The Swedes thought they had got round this by promoting him to lieutenant shortly before the Olympic Games in London.

He rode so well the Swedes romped to gold -- well clear of runners-up France.

However, as sharp as he was on a horse, the French secretary-general of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) Commandant Georges Hector was equally eagle-eyed.

He had noticed Persson was wearing a NCO cap in competition, investigated further and subsequently learned the rider had been demoted back to his previous rank post the Games.

Persson was disqualified in April 1949 as were the Swedes with France elevated to gold.

Later that year the FEI relaxed its rules and opened up the event to NCO's, women and civilians.

Persson made the most of this to inspire the Swedes to team gold in 1952 and 1956.

Muhammad Ali -- Boxing world title 1967

Ali was part of a generation of legendary heavyweight boxers.

However, Ali, born Cassius Clay, stood over his opponents not only in the ring but also for his quick wit and his willingness to confront divisive political issues in the 1960's, such as racism and the Vietnam War.

It was the latter that cost him dearly, when he refused to be drafted into the US Army for religious reasons.

"War is against the teachings of the Qur'an....I ain't got no quarrel with those Vietcong," he said.

At his US Army induction ceremony in April 1967 Ali backed up his words by refusing to step forward.

Not only was he charged with a felony carrying a potential prison sentence of five years but his boxing licence was suspended, across the country, and the WBA stripped him of his world title.

He was to return to the ring and reclaim the world title in the 'Rumble in the Jungle' in October 1974 against George Foreman and defend it in the 'Thrilla in Manila' in a brutal bout with Joe Frazier in October, 1975.

Regrets? He had none.

"Standing up for my religion made me happy; it wasn't a sacrifice," he wrote.

"When people got drafted and sent to Vietnam and didn't understand what the killing was about and came home with one leg and couldn't get jobs, that was a sacrifice."

I.Ko--ThChM