Ivan Ivanov, the Bulgarian weightlifter, has became the first competitor at the Sydney Games to be stripped of a medal for taking drugs.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) said today that Ivanov, who won his silver medal in the 56kg class, had tested positive for a diuretic, a drug normally taken by athletes to hide traces of steroids or to lose weight. Ivanov, a gold medal-winner at the 1992 Barcelona Games and a four-time world champion, just managed to squeeze into the competition when he weighed in at marginally under the weight limit.
Ivanov was one of two athletes who had tested positive, the IOC said. The other was Vadim Devyatovsky, a hammer-thrower from Belarus who tested positive to nandrolone in an out-of-competition test in the Olympic village.
Francois Carrard, the IOC director general, said that Devyatovsky had already left the Games village and Ivanov would be leaving shortly. The Bulgarian national Olympic committee have been ordered to return Ivanov’s silver medal.
Carrard added that the IOC was considering holding a new medal ceremony. Wu Wenxiong, the original bronze medal-winner from China, will take the silver and Zhang Xiangxiang, also from China, moves up to take the bronze. Halil Mutlu, of Turkey, won the gold medal.
Olympic drug testing run by the IOC began on September 2 when the Olympic Village was opened for the 11,000 participating athletes. The IOC said that 855 tests had so far been carried out, 355 at Olympic competitions.
The out-of-competition tests were 199 random tests for EPO and 301 urine tests.
Eight competitors have been suspended from the Games or sent home for returning positive tests in pre-Games testing.
They include two members of the Romania weightlifting team and lifters from Taiwan and Norway, two Iranian boxers, a swimmer from Kazakhstan and a Kenyan relay runner.
