Gold winner fails drugs test

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Athens - Russian woman shot-putter Irina Korzhanenko, who won Olympic gold here has failed a drugs test, the president of the International Olympic Committee's medical commission Arne Ljungqvist said here on Sunday.

"Yes, she failed a drugs test. I think it was steroids, but that will be announced later after an IOC executive board meeting," he told AFP.

Korzhanenko won the gold medal two days before the full athletics programme got underway in a competition north of Athens at Olympia, the birthplace of the Games.

She had previously been found guilty of doping and was stripped of the 1999 World Indoor title for her offence.

"Of course we are very unhappy," said Ljungqvist. "It's very sad and it tarnishes what was intended to be a very symbolic event.