Bulgarian Weightlifting Team May Pull Out

S Y D N E Y, Sept 21 -- Bulgaria’s weightlifting teamsaid today it may pull out of the Sydney Olympics aftertraces of banned substances were found in dope tests on twomore of its medalists.

Women’s 48kg gold medal list Izabela Dragneva and men’s 62kgbronze medalist Sevdalin Minchev were both found to havetraces of diuretics in their A samples, said Beltcho Ivanov, theBulgarian National Olympic Committee’s secretary general.

Ivanov said the B samples would be tested later todayand, if also found to be positive, the Bulgarian team wouldconsider pulling out of the Games.

Silver Medalist Thrown Out

On Wednesday, Bulgarian men’s 56kg silver medalist IvanIvanov was stripped of his medal and thrown out of the Gamesafter testing positive for diuretics.

Beltcho Ivanov and Bulgarian Olympic Committee presidentIvan Slavlov attended an International Olympic Committee (IOC)doping commission meeting in the early hours of Friday morning.

“[Later on today] we will discuss the question,” Ivanovsaid. “Maybe we will decide to cancel the whole Bulgarianweightlifting team.”

Bulgaria withdrew from the 1988 Olympics in Seoul after twoof its gold medalists tested positive for diuretics.

Diuretics help to eliminate fluid from the body and areused by competitors to lose weight quickly in sports withweight categories.

They can also increase the rate at which urine is producedand eliminated to make it more difficult to detect bannedsubstances.

American Tara Nott May Take Gold

On Sunday, Dragneva became the first woman weightlifter towin an Olympic gold medal.

If she is stripped of her title, silver medalist Tara Nottof the United States would be awarded the gold and Raema LisaRumbewas of Indonesia the silver. Burma’s Kay Thi Win would getthe bronze.

If Minchev loses his bronze, it would be awarded tofourth-placed Gennady Oleshchuk of Belarus.

Ivanov said he was surprised by the results of the tests asall Bulgarian weightlifters had been tested in the athletes’village after arriving in Sydney and all had been negative.