Oh, those dopey shotputters.
They get caught for doping violations, return to win medals, then get caught again.
Aleksandr Bagach of Ukraine, who has been playing that game of musical chairs for eight years, was left to face the music again. Meanwhile, John Godina of the U.S. popped into the champion’s seat Bagach was forced to vacate, and C.J. Hunter of the U.S. wound up with the bronze medal.
Bagach, who won the World Championship shotput title Saturday, tested positive for the stimulant ephedrine, the International Amateur Athletic Foundation announced Thursday.
Under the new IAAF doping sanction, Bagach is given a public warning instead of a suspension but loses his gold medal and the accompanying $60,000 first prize. That put Godina in first, Oliver Sven-Buder of Germany, second and Hunter, third.
Bagach, 30, lost a bronze medal at the 1989 European Cup after testing positive for the steroid testosterone. He then won the bronze medal at the 1993 world meet when Mike Stulce of the U.S. was suspended for the second time in his career.
After returning from the first suspension, Stulce won the gold medal at the 1992 Olympics, when all three medalists were previously suspended dopers. At the 1996 Olympics, champion Randy Barnes and the bronze medalist, Bagach, previously had been banned for use of prohibited substances.
“It is so absurd,” Bagach said of Thursday’s suspension. “It is nonsense. I cannot believe it. I have been taking natural medication, and I was guaranteed that everything would be OK. Now the commission finds `pseudo-ephedrine.’ “
For Godina, who was disappointed by his second-place finish, it was the second stroke of good fortune.
He had failed to qualify for the U.S. world team in the shotput after finishing fourth at the U.S. championships but was given a wild-card entry as defending champion.
Keeping track: Veteran Joetta Clark of the U.S., competing in her fifth world meet at age 35, qualified for Saturday’s final in the 800 meters. Although she is unlikely to win a medal, Clark can celebrate having made the final for the first time at the outdoor worlds. . . . Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Marion Jones scraped their way into the 12-woman field for Saturday’s long jump final. Joyner-Kersee, two-time world champion in the event, tied for 10th in Thursday’s qualifying with a jump of 21 feet, 8 3/4 inches. Jones, who upset Joyner-Kersee to win the U.S. title, was 12th at 21-7 1/2, making the final by 1 1/4 inches. Reigning Olympic champion Chioma Ajunwa of Nigeria topped the qualifying at 23-0, longest jump in the world this season. . . . Marie-Jose Perec of France, the female counterpart to Michael Johnson as winner of the 200 and 400 meters at the 1996 Olympics, dropped out of the 200 meters before the semifinals, complaining of a sore hamstring. “Post-Olympic years haven’t been good for me,” Perec said, referring to her fourth place finish in the 200 at the 1993 worlds after she was 1992 Olympic champion in the 400.
