Fifteen months after the Beijing Olympics, Bahraini middle-distance runner Rashid Ramzi was stripped of his 1,500-meter gold medal and four other athletes were disqualified because of doping at the Games. The International Olympic Committee took action against the five athletes who tested positive in April in retroactive tests for CERA, an advanced version of the blood-boosting drug EPO. The Moroccan-born Ramzi was the only gold medalist from Beijing caught using performance-enhancing drugs. A day earlier, the IOC stripped Italian cyclist Davide Rebellin of his silver medal in the road race. Also disqualified were German cyclist Stefan Schumacher, Croatian 800-meter runner Vanja Perisic, and Greek race walker Athanasia Tsoumeleka . . . Cycling’s governing body confirmed it will deliver proposals to the IOC for a track race program at the London Olympics that offers equal gold medal opportunities for men and women. The Beijing Games had seven track events for men and three for women - a bias the UCI acknowledged is “out of line’’ with other Olympic sports.

Trail Blazers forward Travis Outlaw had surgery to repair a stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot. The team says he will be sidelined 3-5 months. Outlaw, who averages 9.9 points, was hurt during the first quarter of the Trail Blazers’ game against Charlotte Saturday night . . . The Denver Nuggets say Chris “Birdman’’ Andersen is day to day with moderate patellar tendinitis in his right knee. An MRI revealed no structural damage. Also, guard Anthony Carter is listed as questionable for the Nuggets’ game tomorrow night against the Clippers in Los Angeles.

William Gallas scored a disputed overtime goal that lifted France over Ireland and into next year’s World Cup. Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, and Algeria also advanced to next year’s tournament on the final day of qualifying. Gallas’s goal in the 103d minute at Saint-Denis, outside Paris, gave France a 1-1 tie and a 2-1 victory in the home-and-home, total-goals playoff. In the other European playoffs, Greece won, 1-0, at Ukraine on Dimitrios Salpigidis’s 31st-minute goal for a 2-1 aggregate victory; Slovenia upset visiting Russia, 1-0, behind Zlatko Dedic’s 44th-minute goal to leave the aggregate tied, 2-2, and advance on away goals; and Portugal won, 1-0, at Bosnia-Herzegovina on Raul Meireles’s 56th minute goal for a 2-0 aggregate win. Algeria beat Egypt, 1-0, in a tiebreaker playoff at Khartoum, Sudan, on Antar Yahya’s goal in the 39th minute. Uruguay earned the final berth in the 32-nation field for next year’s World Cup, tying Costa Rica, 1-1 . . . In an exhibition game, the United States allowed three second-half goals in a 3-1 loss at Denmark.

Maine sophomore quarterback Chris Treister and Norwich freshman tailback Orwin Etkins earned Gridiron Club of Greater Boston Gold Helmet awards. Making his first career start in place of the injured Warren Smith, the 6-foot, 203-pound Treister completed a school-record 40 passes (in 46 attempts), for 468 yards and 5 touchdowns in a 41-17 CAA win over visiting Rhode Island. The 5-6, 159-pound Etkins rushed for 269 yards and 5 touchdowns on 23 carries to power the Cadets to a 49-14 win over Mount Ida in the inaugural Eastern Collegiate Football Conference championship game . . . A federal grand jury in Louisville brought a new charge of retaliation against a witness against Karen Cunagin Sypher, who is accused of trying to extort millions from Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino . . . The injury-thinned Pittsburgh Penguins lost defenseman Jay McKee, who has an infected finger that will keep him out 2-4 weeks. . . The Washington Capitals expect left wing Quintin Laing to miss up to six weeks with a broken jaw, suffered Tuesday against the New York Rangers, and left wing Alexander Semin is questionable with a right wrist injury.