Belarusians Stripped of Medals

From the Associated Press:

Two Belarusian hammer throwers were stripped Thursday of their silver and bronze medals from the Beijing Olympics because of high levels of testosterone.

A Polish canoeist also was disqualified for drug use. The three cases bring to nine the number of athletes caught for doping in Beijing.

The International Olympic Committee executive board ruled against Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan, who tested positive for abnormal levels of testosterone after the hammer final on Aug. 17 at the Bird's Nest stadium.

The silver will go to Krisztian Pars of Hungary and the bronze to Koji Murofushi of Japan. Primoz Kozmus of Slovenia won the gold medal.

The IOC asked the International Association of Athletics Federations to officially modify the results and ordered the Belarus national Olympic committee to return the medals.

The IOC also imposed a lifetime Olympic ban on the 31-year-old Devyatovskiy because it was his second doping offense. He served a two-year drug suspension from 2000-02.

Under IAAF rules, Devyatovskiy faces a lifetime ban from the sport for two doping violations.

It was the first violation for 32-year-old Tsikhan, a three-time world champion and silver medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Tsikhan, however, faces a likely two-year ban from the IAAF. Under new IOC rules, any athlete suspended for six months or more for doping is banned from the next Olympics.

By Tracee Hamilton  |  December 11, 2008; 9:47 AM ET  | Category:  Track and Field
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