Bulgaria backs banned weightlifters

Izabela Dragneva won gold but tested positive

Bulgarian weightlifters who tested positive for drugs at the Olympics may have taken it unwittingly in a medicine, the country's government has claimed.

Three Bulgarian lifters were stripped of their medals after tests showed traces of the banned diuretic furosemide.

But the country's pharmaceutical watchdog has questioned the decision.

"The result of our examinations shows that there is minimal concentration of furosemide in the medicine named Orocetam," said Borislav Borisov, executive director of the Pharmaceuticals Agency.

He said that in Bulgaria medicine manufacturers were not required to list a component which is present at less than 0.1%.

Tiny traces

In this case, the trace of the substance was some 0.003% or less.

"The furosemide was found in one of the product's components, pyracetam," Borisov said.

Bulgaria's weightlifting coach Ivan Abadzhiev resigned after saying he had given the athletes Orocetam, unaware that one of the components was the banned diuretic furosemide.

Ivan Badinski, executive director of manufacturer Sopharma, had said their product did not contain diuretics.