updated 1:16 p.m. ET Aug. 23, 2004

ATHENS, Greece - Disgraced Greek weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis handed back his Athens Olympic bronze medal on Sunday after he was excluded from the Games following a failed dope test.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) banned the twice Olympic silver medallist from the Games and ordered him to return the bronze he had won earlier in the week.

“He has handed back the medal to the Greek Olympic team a short while ago as he was ordered to do,” a weightlifting official told Reuters. It will be returned to the IOC later in the day.

Sampanis, who tested positive for high testosterone levels after finishing third in the 62 kg category on Monday, still insisted he had done nothing illegal.

“I’m going crazy, my life is destroyed, my family is destroyed,” Sampanis, who won silver in the 1996 and 2000 Games, told reporters.

“I can’t sleep, I can’t eat for the past three days but there is no way that I have taken anything. Something is very wrong here.”

His second sample test also showed an elevated testosterone level.

Sampanis’ bronze medal is the first to be withdrawn at the Games and it had been the first in Athens for the host nation.

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The IOC executive board met early on Sunday to rule on the case, which shocked Greece days after its top sprint pair withdrew after missing eve-of-Games dope tests.

“The IOC executive board decided that Leonidas Sampanis is disqualified from the men’s 62 kg weightlifting event where he had placed third, shall have his medal and diploma withdrawn, and shall have his Olympic identity and accreditation withdrawn,” IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies told reporters.

She said the tests confirmed the testosterone was not naturally produced by the athlete but taken in some form.

She also called on the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) to consider any additional sanctions.

But the Greek Weightlifting Federation and fellow athletes backed Sampanis, saying the 32-year-old was innocent of any doping offence.

“I believe in the innocence of Sampanis and we will try to prove it,” federation president Yiannis Sgouros told reporters without elaborating. “I repeat he is innocent and we must stand by him.”

Unfair decision
Fellow weightlifter Pyrros Dimas, who won bronze in the 85 kg on Saturday, said the IOC decision was unfair.

“How can you now prove that you are not an elephant. This is unfair, very unfair,” Dimas said with tears in his eyes.

Sampanis' weightlifting coach Christos Iakovou also denied supplying any of his athletes with banned substances.

“I had expected other, more happy developments during these Games and I am saddened and disappointed by these developments,” Iakovou said.

Davies said the athlete had acted alone.

“The full decision confirmed that no other person contributed to this anti-doping rule violation,” she said.

Nine weightlifters have failed doping tests around the Athens Games but Davies refused to comment on the future of the sport within the Olympics.

The IWF, fearful the sport may be dropped from future Games due its tainted doping record, tested all its athletes prior to the Games in a bid to crack down on cheats.

Israel Jose Rubio of Venezuela, who finished fourth in the contest, is expected to receive the bronze medal.

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