ATHENS, AUG 7: Robert Korzeniowski of Poland today added the World Championship gold medal to his Olympic title last year in the 50 km walk, but Alexandr Bagach of Ukraine was stripped of his shot put title for drug abuse.

The world governing body IAAF said in a statement that Bagach tested positive for the stimulant Ephedrine, was disqualified and received a public warning.

As a result of Bagach's offence, John Godina of the US was awarded gold, with German Oliver-Sven Buder getting silver and a second American, CJ Hunter (the boyfriend of 100m champion Marion Jones), taking bronze.Godina is the second wildcard entry to become world champion after 400m runner Michael Johnson. Neither had initially qualified (Godina only in the discus), but the IAAF decided last month to invite all defending champions via the wildcard.

The IAAF said French 400m hurdles runner Pascal Maran and Kazakh triple jumper Oxana Zelinskaya also tested positive for ephedrine and were disqualified as well. Both were eliminated in the first round.However, by that time the news had broken of Bagach's offence. It was the second of his career after he was banned for two years for using anabolic steroids in 1989.

IAAF commissioner David Tolley said Bagach did not get a lifetime ban this time because, the forbidden substances are defined in several categories: steroids and stimulants.

Bagach was the first world champion to be caught for drugs in Athens and it was the first time at a major competition that the winner had been disqualified since Canadian Ben Johnson tested positive for steroids after winning the 1988 100m Olympic gold.

Gunnel, Sanderson quit: Sally Gunnell and Tessa Sanderson Britain's only two women Olympic champions in the past 25 years, brought their careers to a close in contrasting styles today.

Gunnell, 31, the 1992 Olympic 400 metres hurdles champion, said that injury had forced her to hasten her decision to retire, while Sanderson, 41, finally called it a day after failing to qualify for the javelin final with a throw of 57.84 metres.

In regular sporting action, Korzeniowski braved the intense early morning heat to win his second major gold after the Atlanta Games in three hours 44 minutes 46 seconds.

Korzeniowski shook off the 1993 world champion and 1997 World Cup winner Jesus Garcia of Spain in the final kilometres, as the Spaniard had to settle for the silver, 13 seconds behind, in 3:44.59. Miguel Rodriguez of Mexico was a distant third in 3:48.30 hours.

New Zealand's first gold: Beatrice Faumuina won New Zealand's first gold medal in the 14-year history of the world championships when she won the women's discus final.

The 22-year-old of Samoan descent fouled her first two throws and would have been eliminated if her third throw was illegal or too short. But she survived the pressure to unleash her winning delivery of 66.82 metres in the third round.

Defending champion Ellina Zvereva of Belarus, who led the competition after two rounds with a heave of 65.90 metres, could not improve on that and had to settle for the silver. Natalya Sadova of Russia, the Olympic silver medallist, took the bronze with a throw of 65.14 metres.

Kumbernuss still the best: Germany's Olympic champion Astrid Kumbernuss continued her dominance of the women's shot put by defending her world title with ease. A second-round throw of 20.71 metres clinched the gold for the 27-year-old Neubrandenburg athlete.

Vita Pavlysh took silver with 20.66 to bring some positive news to Ukraine, while Germany's Stephanie Storp took bronze with a first-round effort of 19.22.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.