Two Russians Lose Medals After Failing Drug Tests

The first positive drug tests of the Atlanta Games cost two Russian athletes their Olympic medals, and a third athlete from Lithuania who did not medal had her results tossed out.

Andrei Korneyev, bronze medalist in the 200-meter breaststroke, was disqualified after testing positive for the banned stimulant bromantan, International Olympic Committee spokeswoman Michele Verdier said Sunday.

Zafar Gulyov, a Greco-Roman wrestler who took the bronze medal at 105 1/2 pounds, also tested positive for the same substance and lost his medal.

Lithuanian cyclist Rita Raznaite, who finished 13th in the sprint, tested positive for the same drug. Her race results were disqualified.

There were five positive drug tests at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

Bromantan is a new drug comparable to the stimulant mesocarb, Verdier said. This is the first time bromantan has been detected at the Olympics.

“It’s a stimulant to enhance performance,” she said. “As well, it can be considered as a masking agent.”

Verdier said the international federations will decide who gets the bronze medals stripped from Korneyev and Gulyov. Usually, the fourth-place finisher moves up.

Britain’s Nick Gillingham, who finished fourth in the 200-meter breaststroke, confirmed he would receive the bronze medal stripped from Korneyev. North Korea’s Kang Yong is expected to get the medal in Greco-Roman.

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Colony Square, an office-condominium complex just north of downtown Atlanta in which several reporters from The Times covering the Olympics are housed, was evacuated Sunday afternoon in a bomb scare that proved groundless.

Residents and customers were evacuated for 30 minutes after an anonymous telephone caller to a Houlihans restaurant in the adjoining food court said there was a bomb in the complex.

“He just said, ‘There’s a bomb in the square, there’s a bomb in the square,’ ” said Houlihans’ front desk supervisor, Larry Webb, who took the call.

“I just went and told my general manager right away. We went and called security. They came down and said we needed to evacuate. . . .”

Kameel and Dana Srouji, who own a deli next to Houlihans, and their three young children were among those evacuated.

“We’re from Israel--and we came here to get away from things like this,” Dana Srouji said. “Could you imagine living under these conditions since 1948? We came here for a better life. I just want to go back to normal life.”

A search by police reportedly turned up no suspicious packages. Police on the scene refused to discuss the matter.

Many of the evacuated seemed to take it in stride.