IOC strips Russian's shot put gold

ATHENS, Greece — Russia's Irina Korzhanenko was stripped of her shot put gold medal, the first athlete of the Athens Games to lose an Olympic title because of doping.

The 30-year-old Korzhanenko was the first woman to win a gold medal at the sacred site of Ancient Olympia but tested positive for the steroid stanozolol after Wednesday's competition. The backup B sample confirmed the initial finding.

The International Olympic Committee executive board expelled Korzhanenko from the Games and ordered the Russian Olympic Committee to return the medal.

The gold goes to Cuba's Yumileidi Cumba Jay. Germany's Nadine Kleinert moves up to silver, and Russia's Svetlana Krivelyova to bronze.

Meanwhile, a prosecutor started an investigation into claims that weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis, stripped of his bronze medal for doping, could have been slipped a banned substance without his knowledge.

Prosecutor Grigoris Peponis opened the investigation on Monday after Sampanis' drug test showed he had an abnormally high level of testosterone. Sampanis, who won silver medals in 1996 and 2000, has denied wrongdoing.