Belarussian hammer throwers Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan are to be stripped of the medals they won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported Thursday, citing International Olympic Committee (IOC) sources, reported dpa.
Silver-medallist Devyatovskiy and bronze winner Tsikhan tested positive for traces of testosterone after the hammer final on August 17 and their case is one of the issues being discussed by the IOC's disciplinary commission at the three-day IOC Executive meeting in Lausanne, which ends Friday.
IAAF president Lamine Diack said in September, when both athletes attended an IOC hearing, that as far as the governing body for athletics is concerned a suspension is the only course as both the A and B samples have been tested.
If the pair are stripped of their medals, Hungary's Ungar Krisztian Pars will be promoted to the silver-medal position with 2004 Olympic champion Koji Murofushi taking bronze. Slovenia's Primoz Kozmus won the gold medal.
Devyatovskiy, 31, faces a life ban as he already served a two-year suspension for doping between 2000 and 2002. This is three-time world champion Tsikan's first positive test.
The IOC carried out 4,770 doping tests in Beijing but has announced that it will re-test around 500 doping samples, with the results expected in January, 2009.