ATHENS -- The first woman to win a gold medal at Ancient Olympia -- a Russian shot putter -- is under investigation for a positive drug test, international and Russian Olympic officials said Sunday.

Irina Korzhanenko tested positive for the steroid stanozolol after Wednesday's competition, Russian Olympic Committee spokesman Gennady Shvets said.

Meanwhile, Greek weightlifter Leonidas Sampanis was stripped of his bronze medal Sunday and expelled from the Olympics for a doping offense, another embarrassment for the host nation.

The two reports are just latest in what is becoming a daily occurrence in Athens.

Korzhanenko's backup B sample was being analyzed to verify the result, he said.

"Nobody can believe that this is actually happening," Shvets said.

Stanozolol is the same steroid that cost Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson his gold medal in the 100 meters at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

The positive test was also confirmed by two senior International Olympic Committee officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Korzhanenko, who previously served a two-year doping ban, faces a hearing before an IOC disciplinary commission. If found guilty, she would be stripped of the medal and expelled from the games.

Korzhanenko won with a throw of 69 feet, 11/4 inches (21.06 meters) -- the first throw over 21 meters in four years.

If disqualified, the gold would go to Cuba's Yumileidi Cumba Jay. Germany's Nadine Kleinert would move up to silver, and Russia's Svetlana Krivelyova to bronze.

The shot put was held at the ancient site, about 200 miles southwest of Athens, two days before the start of track and field in Olympic Stadium. It was the first time women have competed at the site; the ancient Olympics were for men only.

Sampanis was the first athlete at the Athens Games to lose his medal because of doping.

The Greek star, who was third in the 137-pound (62kg) category after winning silvers at the previous two Olympics, was disqualified by the International Olympic Committee executive board.

His medal was given to Venezuela's Israel Jose Rubio Rivero, who finished fourth.

The 32-year-old Sampanis tested positive for twice the allowed amount of testosterone, the IOC said. Doctors established that the testosterone came from outside the body.

"Honestly, I can say that for the last 10 years, the time that I have been a weightlifter, I never used this kind of drug," he said, crying.

Sampanis was tested Aug. 16 after winning the medal. He told the IOC on Aug. 7 that he had been injected with an undisclosed drug for an injury, but IOC medical director, Patrick Schamasch, said that had nothing to do with the positive tests.

"We very much believe in Sampanis' innocence and we will try to prove it," said Yiannis Sgouros, head of the Greek Weightlifting Federation.

The Greek federation has hired a lawyer to investigate how the Sampanis' sample tested positive.

News of the busts was welcomed by World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound.

"That's good. If we got another one, that's great," he said, referring to cheaters. "It shows that you can't go to Ancient Olympia and screw around and get away with it."

Another female shot putter, Uzbekistan's Olga Shchukina, tested positive in a pre-event screening for the steroid clenbuterol. She finished 19th and last in her qualifying group and was expelled from the games Friday by the IOC executive board.

In 1999, Korzhanenko was stripped of the silver medal at the world indoor championships for a doping violation, and was given a two-year suspension that kept her out of the 2000 Sydney Olympics. She won the world indoor title in 2003 in Birmingham, England, and placed fourth at last year's world outdoors in Paris.

Confirmation of Korzhanenko's positive test came on the same day Sampanis became the first athlete of the Athens Games to be stripped of a medal because of doping. Sampanis lost his bronze medal in the 137-pound (62kg) category after testing positive for testosterone.

So far, nine weightlifters, including Sampanis, have failed drug tests. A Kenyan boxer was also sent home after a positive test.