Gillingham decision near

A ruling is expected today on the Russian appeal against the disqualification of two medal-winning athletes for using the controversial drug bromantan, including the man who beat Nick Gillingham for the bronze medal. Gillingham will win his third medal running in successive Games if the 200m breaststroker Andrei Korneyev loses the appeal.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport began deliberations last night after a six-hour hearing into the cases of Korneyev and the Greco-Roman wrestler Zafar Gulyov.

"A decision will be taken hopefully tomorrow," the CAS secretary general, Jean-Philipe Rochat, said.

The International Olympic Committee announced on Sunday that Korneyev and Gulyov tested positive for bromantan. Gulyov lost his bronze in the light-flyweight class. Since then, two other Russians have been disqualified over the same drug, the swimmer Nina Zhivanevskaya and the sprinter Marina Trandenkova.

Russian Olympic officials dispute the IOC's contention that bromantan is a performance-enhancing stimulant. They claimed yesterday the IOC had not told them of a June ban on the drug. Their spokesman, Rudolf Nezvetsky, said: "The IOC medical commission didn't tell us or anyone else the drug had been banned. You have to publish a decision like that, those are the rules of the game."