Olympic hammer throw champion stripped of gold

Adrian Annus of Hungary was stripped of his gold medal on Sunday for a doping offence, the IOC announced.

Olympic hammer champion Adrian Annus of Hungary was stripped of his gold medal here on Sunday for a doping offence, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced.

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The decision was taken by the IOC's executive board after Annus, who is back home in Hungary, refused to undergo a new out-of-competition doping test.

The IOC wanted a further test from Annus after suspicions were raised that he had tricked testers by switching urine samples in a test after his win on August 22.

The gold medal goes to Japan's Koji Murofushi.

Annus' Hungarian teammate Robert Fazekas has already been stripped of his men's discus gold medal after being caught trying to tamper with his urine sample during a test.

Russian woman shot putter Irina Korzhanenko, the first winner of the athletics programme at the Athens Games, has also been forced to return her gold medal after testing positive for the banned anabolic steroid stanozolol.