Olympic Athletes Tossed for Drugs

S Y D N E Y, Australia, Sept. 20 -- A Bulgarian weightlifting medalist anda hammer thrower from Belarus tested positive for banned drugs atthe Sydney Olympics, the first doping cases from the Summer Games.

The International Olympic Committee said today (Tuesdaynight ET) that it had stripped the silver medal in the 56-kilogramweightlifting class from Ivan Ivanov, who tested positive for adiuretic.

Ivanov kissed his barbell after he had clinched the medalSaturday, the first full day of competition. Diuretics are used toflush fluid from an athlete’s body to reduce weight, but also canbe used to mask the presence of other performance-enhancing drugs.

The other athlete was Vadim Devyatovsky, a weight thrower fromBelarus, who tested positive for the steroid nandrolone in anout-of-competiotion test in the athletes’ village, IOC executiveboard member Kevan Gosper said.

These were the first athletes banned as a result of testsconducted during the games. Several others had previously beenbanned as a result of out-of-competition testing.

Details were to be announced later in the day at an IOC newsconference.

First at the Games

The IOC tests were the first drug positives from the gamesthemselves but only the latest in a slew of doping cases announcedin Sydney, where more drug tests will be conducted than everbefore.

On Tuesday night, Alexander Bagach of Ukraine, the 1999 worldindoor shot put champion and 1996 Olympic bronze medalist, wassuspended by international track officials for testing positive forsteroids for a third time.

Simon Kemboi, a member of the Kenyan 1,600-meter relay team,also was suspended for testing positive for steroids.

Neither will be allowed to compete in Sydney.

The ruling council of the International Amateur AthleticFederation announced those suspensions after an eight-hour meeting.

The World Anti-Doping Agency, a new international arm of Olympicsports designed to conduct uniform out-of-competition testing, alsoreported a positive steroid test to Nigerian 800-meter runner DupeOsime.