THE SEOUL GAMES / DAY 8 : Bulgaria’s Weightlifting Team Withdraws After Drug Suspensions

Bulgaria withdrew its weightlifting team from the Olympic Games Saturday with two more weight classes to be contested after a second lifter was stripped of a gold medal for taking a banned drug, officials said.

The Bulgarian Olympic delegation announced the withdrawal after Angel Guenchev, the 148 1/2-pound champion, was disqualified for taking a weight-reducing diuretic. His teammate, Mitko Grablev, was stripped of his bantamweight gold Thursday and ordered to take the next plane home, also for taking a diuretic.

Grablev was suspended from competition for 2 years by the International Weightlifting Federation. He also was dropped from the national team.

The gold medal was awarded to Oxen Mirzoian of the Soviet Union, who had finished second in the weight class.

The IOC Medical Commission also recommended the disqualification of Spain’s Jorge Quesada in the modern pentathlon. Quesada, who did not win a medal, tested positive for Propranolol, a beta blocker, which is used by heart patients to steady the heartbeat.