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IOC strips Belarusians of Beijing hammer medals

(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-12 11:36

LAUSANNE, Switzerland -- Two Belarusian hammer throwers were stripped of their Olympic silver and bronze medals for doping on Thursday, nearly four months after the competition in Beijing. A Polish canoeist was also disqualified for drug use.

The International Olympic Committee executive board ruled against Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan, who tested positive for abnormal levels of testosterone after finishing 2-3 in the August 17 hammer final at the Bird's Nest stadium.

The silver now goes to Krisztian Pars of Hungary and the bronze to Koji Murofushi of Japan. Slovenia's Primoz Kozmus 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.

Related readings:  IOC to retest 500 doping samples from Beijing

The IOC also imposed a lifetime Olympic ban on the 31-year-old Devyatovskiy because this 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 the 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.

The Belarusians had denied drug use and appeared at a hearing before the IOC's disciplinary commission in Lausanne in September.

In Minsk, Tsikhan and Belarusian Sports Minister Alexander Grigorov said they planned to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

"This isn't a final verdict," Tsikhan said. "Without a doubt we will be appealing."

Murofushi is benefiting for a second time from a rival's doping case. Four years ago, he was upgraded to the gold medal in Athens after Hungary's Adrian Annus was stripped of first place.

Once the medals are returned to the IOC, they will be sent to the Hungarian and Japanese Olympic committees to be awarded to Pars and Murofoshi.

Also Thursday, the IOC disqualified Polish canoeist Adam Seroczynski, who tested positive for the steroid clenbuterol in Beijing after finishing fourth in the flatwater K2 event on August 22. His teammate, Mariusz Kujawski, was not implicated, but their team result was voided.

The three cases bring to nine the number of athletes caught for doping in Beijing. In addition, there were six doping cases involving horses in the equestrian competition.

The IOC disqualified six athletes during the August 8-24 Olympics _ Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska, Ukrainian weightlifter Igor Razoronov, Greek hurdler Fani Halkia, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su, Spanish cyclist Isabel Moreno and Vietnamese gymnast Thi Ngan Thuong Do.

Blonska was stripped of her silver medal, while Kim had his silver and bronze medals revoked.

The IOC, meanwhile, has decided to retest 500 Beijing doping samples to look for previously undetectable drugs.

Starting in January, labs will begin analyzing 400 samples for CERA, a new version of the blood-boosting hormone EPO, and 100 samples for insulin. The samples are mainly from endurance events such as cycling, rowing, swimming and track and field. The results will be known by the end of March.