Weightlifter and runner fail tests

The Hungarian weightlifter Ferenc Gyurkovics has failed a drugs test and risks losing his Olympic silver medal, a national Olympic committee spokesman said yesterday, while the Russian 400m runner Anton Galkin was thrown out of the Games for a positive drugs test.

The Hungarian weightlifter Ferenc Gyurkovics has failed a drugs test and risks losing his Olympic silver medal, a national Olympic committee spokesman said yesterday, while the Russian 400m runner Anton Galkin was thrown out of the Games for a positive drugs test.

The 25-year-old Galkin, who was eliminated at the semi-final stage, tested positive for stanozolol and will be sent home instead of competing in the 4x400m relay as intended.

The International Olympic Committee has scheduled a disciplinary hearing for Gyurkovics, who competed in the 105kg (231lb) class.

The Hungarian Olympic Committee plans to ask the IOC to have his back-up sample tested by an independent laboratory, a committee spokesman, Dezso Vad, said.

Gyurkovics set an Olympic record by lifting 195kg (429lb) in the snatch on Tuesday, but wound up finishing second to Dmitri Berestov of Russia in the overall totals.

Four medals already have been overturned at the Athens Games for doping violations.

Meanwhile, Hungary's Olympic hammer-throw champion Adrian Annus has finally been tracked down by doping testers and given a deadline to provide a new urine sample.

Annus, now in Hungary, passed a drug test after winning the hammer throw on Sunday, but officials have been trying to find him since then for further testing.

The IOC wants to find out whether he provided his own urine for the test or whether he tried to beat the screening system, as his teammate and gold medallist in the discus, Robert Fazekas, allegedly did.

Fazekas lost his gold medal after Olympic authorities said he failed to provide enough urine for a drug test, a charge which Fazekas disputes.