Athletics: Former drug cheats win gold

Two eastern European women who have served doping suspensions won Olympic gold medals on Wednesday after women's world hammer champion Mihaela Melinte had been escorted from the arena for failing a drugs test.

Ellina Zvereva, 39, of Belarus became the oldest woman to win a track and field gold when she took the women's discus with a throw of 68.40m. Zvereva has served a 12-month suspension for taking steroids.

Olga Shishigina of Kazakhstan, who has served a two-year drugs ban, won the 100 metres hurdles in front of sentimental favourite Glory Alozie from Nigeria.

The African champion's fiance was killed by a car in Sydney before the start of the Games.

The day's competition could not have got off to a worse start after the news on Monday that CJ Hunter, the world shot put champion and husband of Marion Jones, had tested positive four times for massive amounts of nandrolone.

In unprecedented scenes at an Olympic Games, Romanian Melinte was told she had also tested positive for nandrolone and was led away from the field.

International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) general secretary Istvan Gyulai said the world governing body had rejected Melinte's excuse that she had ingested the anabolic steroid from a food supplement.

Hunter used the same defence at a news conference on Tuesday.

Jones, who hardly needs extra pressure in her pursuit of five gold medals, survived a day she described as the toughest on her schedule.

She came through the first two rounds of the 200 and needed only one effort in the long jump qualifying.

The 24-year-old American won the 100m gold on Saturday and will also run in both the 4x100 and 4x400m relay at the weekend.

Russian Irina Privalova, a bronze medallist over 100m at the 1992 Barcelona Games, capped a successful transition to the 400 hurdles this year by winning the Olympic title.

The men's 400m hurdles went to Angelo Taylor of the United States.

Several Olympic and world champions failed to survive the day, including Gail Devers, the finest women's sprinter-hurdler since Fannie Blankers-Koen, who won four gold medals at the 1948 London Games.

Devers, twice the Olympic 100m champion, has three world 100 hurdles golds but has never won the Olympic title.

Denied the opportunity to defend the 100m flat title here after finishing out of the places in the US trials, Devers, who has been increasingly troubled by a hamstring injury, crashed out at the fifth barrier in her semifinal.

Both the men's and women's 1500m champions from Atlanta failed to advance.

Nourredine Morceli of Algeria collided with another runner in his semifinal and Russian Svetlana Masterkova pulled up in the heats with a calf injury.

World record holder Sergei Bubka, six times a world champion, failed to clear his opening height of 5.70m in the pole vault qualifying.

- REUTERS