Baldini, however, while world # 1, did not take part in the Games, as he was excluded a few days before his departure for Beijing due to a controversial case of positivity to a diuretic.

The Italian Olympic Committee reported on 1 August 2008 he had failed a doping test, testing positive for banned diuretic Furosemide (more commonly known as Lasix; it is on the World Anti-Doping Agency's banned drug list due to concerns that it may mask other drugs[3]) at the European Championships in Kyiv, Ukraine, and would therefore miss the Beijing Olympics.

[4][5] Baldini suggested he may have been a victim of foul play, though the Italian Olympic Committee dropped its inquiry into an alleged conspiracy plot in October 2008.

[6] In April 2009 the public prosecutor of Livorno, Italy, filed a complaint against unknown persons for a "sufficiently proven" conspiracy, but writing that it was not possible to identify the person who sabotaged Baldini, with three possible hypotheses according to the prosecutor being "athletes of another nationality with an interest in getting rid of one of the most dangerous candidates for the title; Andrea Cassarà [summoned to the Olympics in his place]; or a Cassarà / Coni family political plot".

"[7] In April 2009 he was given a retroactive six-month ban by the FIE international federation and stripped of his European Championships team foil gold medal, subject to approval by the World Anti-Doping Agency.

[6] On 10 April 2009 the International Fencing Federation, also taking into account the conclusions of ordinary justice, recognizes the good faith of the athlete and the alleged sabotage of his water bottle, and allows him to return to the piste after his six-month ban.

[6] Baldini, together with Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Marisa Poli, will write a book about it, entitled "Beijing: The Forbidden City".

At the end of the individual competition, however, he remains out of the podium after being defeat in semifinals against the future Olympic champion Lei Sheng and losing then the match for bronze (15-14) in favor of the Korean Choi Byung-chul.