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Posted at 12:35 p.m., Friday, September 5, 2008

Track and field: 2 hammer throw medalists test positive

By RAF CASERT
AP Sports Writer

BRUSSELS, Belgium — The silver and bronze medalists from Belarus in the men's hammer throw at the Beijing Olympics were caught doping and could be stripped of their medals.

Vadim Devyatovskiy and Ivan Tsikhan are still being investigated for doping offenses at the games by the International Olympic Committee.

"Listen, they were tested and it was positive. They were tested for the 'A' and 'B' sample," Lamine Diack, president of track and field's governing body, told The Associated Press on Friday.

The substance was testosterone, said another IAAF official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the IOC investigation was still ongoing.

The Belarus Athletics Federation said Devyatovskiy and Tsikhan deny the accusations.

"For the IAAF it is clear. It will be a suspension," Diack said at the end of the Golden League competition in Brussels. "Now it goes to the level of the IOC, but for us it is clear."

The IOC is expected to rule on the case this month. If it follows the IAAF conclusions, it would make for the biggest doping scandal at the track competition in Beijing. The two Belarusians would become the second and third track and field medalists to be stripped of their medals.

Devyatovskiy's silver would go to Krisztian Pars of Hungary, while Tsikhan's bronze would go to Koji Murofushi of Japan. Primoz Kozmus of Slovenia won the gold medal.

During the games, Ukrainian heptathlete Lyudmila Blonska was disqualified and had to give up her silver medal for testing positive. She was given a life ban since it was her second doping offense.