Ukrainian weightlifter Igor Razoronov was disqualified and kicked out of the Beijing Olympics over a positive doping test for steroids, the International Olympic Committee said on Saturday, dpa reported.
Razoronov, 38, tested positive for the steroid nandrole on August 18 after placing sixth in the 105-kilos division. He is the sixth doping offender at the Beijing Games. The news came one day after compatriot Lyudmila Blonska was stripped of her heptathlon silver medal and kicked out of the Games by the IOV after being caught using the steroid methyltestosterone.
Blonska faces a life ban as a second-time offender. Razoronov is the sixth athlete to fail a doping test at the Beijing Games, after Blonska, Spanish cyclist Maria Isabel Moreno, North Korean shooter Kim Jong Su, Vietnamese gymnast Do Thi Ngan Thuong and the 2004 Olympic 400m hurdles champion Fani Halkia of Greece.
Kim lost his 50-metre air pistol silver and a 10-metre air pistol bronze. The IOC said Friday it has already carried out 4,600 doping tests and that the final number would be around 5,000. The IOC had originally spoken of conducting 4,500 tests in the Olympic peroid July 27-August 24.
Under new IOC rules athletes who test positive at the Olympics are automatically banned from the next Games.