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Thursday, September 21
Diuretics used to lose weight
SYDNEY, Australia -- Two more Bulgarian weightlifters have
tested positive for banned drugs and will be thrown out of the
Sydney Olympics, the head of the International Weightlifting
Federation said.
"Two of the Bulgarian weightlifters used diuretics to lose
bodyweight," IWF secretary general Tamas Ajan told The Associated
Press. "This is a forbidden substance. The IOC will disqualify
them from the competition."
The International Olympic Committee medical commission, which
reviews positive drug cases, was meeting early Friday. Among the
Bulgarian officials called to the meeting was Ivan Slavkov, that
country's IOC delegate.
The IOC executive board was expected to announce its official
ruling later Friday.
On Wednesday, Bulgarian lifter Ivan Ivanov was stripped of his
silver medal in the 56-kilo (123-pound) class after testing
positive for furosemide, a weight-loss diuretic. Ivanov, a former
Olympic and world champion, was the first athlete to fail an
in-competition test during the games.
Two other Bulgarians have won weightlifting medals in Sydney.
Izabela Dragneva won the gold medal in the women's 48-kilo
(106-pound) event in which Tara Nott of the United States won the
silver and Sevdalin Minchev Angelov took the bronze medal in the
men's 62-kilo (137-pound) class in which Gennady Oleshchuk of
Belarus finished fourth.
Dragneva's event was the first Olympic medal ever awarded in
women's weightlifting.
Two Romanian weightlifters, Traian Ciharean and Adrian Mateas,
were suspended and expelled from the Olympic Village after failing
out-of-competition tests.
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