ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, August 5, 1996 TAG: 9608050155
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press ATLANTA
An arbitration court Sunday reinstated two Russian athletes who were stripped of their Olympic medals after testing positive for a banned drug.
In a surprise decision, the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled there was insufficient scientific evidence to disqualify swimmer Andrei Korneyev and Greco-Roman wrestler Zafar Gulyov.
The court said it gave the athletes ``the benefit of the doubt'' because of uncertainty over whether the drug bromantan is a stimulant.
Korneyev and Gulyov were among five athletes from the former Soviet Union - four Russians and one Lithuanian - expelled for using bromantan. The other three are likely to be reinstated Monday, IOC officials said.
The International Olympic Committee said last Sunday that Korneyev and Gulyov tested positive for bromantan. Korneyev was stripped of his bronze medal in the 200-meter breaststroke and Gulyov lost his bronze in the light flyweight (105 1/2-pound) class.
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