IRINA KORZHANENKO, of Russia, who won the women’s shot, the first athletics gold medal of the Games, has had adverse findings for an anabolic steroid, Olympic sources said yesterday. Korzhanenko, 30, took the title in the stadium at Olympia, scene of the Ancient Games, last Wednesday, with a throw of 21.06 metres to defeat Yumileidi Cumba, of Cuba, who reached 19.59 metres.
It is understood that the substance is stanozolol, the same hormone drug that Ben Johnson, the disgraced Canadian sprinter, took in 1988 before he was stripped of his gold medal in the 100 metres race. Russian officials yesterday declined to confirm the positive test, although one said: “There is a problem. We are looking into it.”
In 1999, Korzhanenko was awarded the world indoor title when Vita Pavlysh, of Ukraine, was disqualified for a positive test, only for the Russian herself to be banned also for an adverse finding. Subsequently, she took the world indoor title in Birmingham in 2003 and was fourth in the outdoor championships in Paris last year.
In another drugs scandal, Leonidas Sampanis, who took Greece’s first medal of the Games by finishing third in the under 62kg weightlifting event, has agreed to return his medal because his testosterone level was well over the permitted limit, indicating the use of hormone drugs. He had already been disqualified from the event but had refused to return his prize.
However, Sampanis pleaded on Greek television: “I want to declare to the Greek people that I swear to God, to my two little angels, my children, that I never took any such substances. I want you to believe me. I do not want you to desert me. I am going crazy. My life is destroyed. My family is destroyed. I cannot sleep. I have not eaten for the last three days.”