Shot putter stripped of gold
2004-08-23 10:33
Athens - Olympic women's shot put winner Irina Korzhanenko of Russia has been stripped of her medal and thrown out of the Games after failing a doping test the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced here on Monday.
Korzhanenko tested positive after winning the Olympic title on August 18 for stanozolol, a banned anabolic steroid, said an IOC spokesperson.
It is the first time since the Ben Johnson scandal at the 1988 Seoul Games that a gold medallist in the Olympics' showpiece track and field competition has failed a drugs test.
The Russian won the gold medal two days before the full athletics programme got underway in a competition north of Athens at Olympia, the ancient birthplace of the Games.
She had previously been found guilty of doping and was stripped of the 1999 World Indoor title for her offence.
Korzhanenko would have gone into the record books as the first woman champion at the site of the ancient Games, as well as the first athletics champion of this particular edition of the modern Games.
"I kept thinking before this competition that the silver was the best I could hope for so I think the Greek gods helped me win this gold medal as conditions were far from ideal," the 30-year-old said at the time of her victory.
Korzhanenko dominated the competition from the outset, producing her best of 21.06m in the third round.
No other thrower was able to go beyond 20m in the women's final as the Russian produced the biggest women's winning margin at the Olympics.
Korzhanenko was disqualified from the 1999 World Indoor Championships after testing positive for drugs. Yanina Korolchik of Belarus, the Olympic champion in this event four years ago in Sydney, was not able to defend her title because she is serving a ban after testing positive for a banned steroid.
She is the second woman shot putter involved in the event to test positive.
Olga Shchukina, 27, who finished last in the event last Wednesday, tested positive for Clenbuterol, a banned anabolic agent, after undergoing a test on August 14, the IOC said.
So far, over 1 662 anti doping tests have been performed out of the 3 000 tests that the IOC is expected to conduct throughout the period of the Games.
- AFP