Two shot putters — one M55 and one M40 — tested positive for steroids at the Linz world masters indoor meet in March, WMA President Cesare Beccalli confirmed today. The athletes — M55 silver medalist Neil Griffin of Britain and M40 silver medalist Andrew Fedyashin of Russia “have been provisionally suspended, pending the outcome of hearings,” Beccalli wrote. “In addition it is being announced that the current results listing for shot put M40 competition (at Linz) is under investigation and consequently the published/announced results for the event cannot be regarded as final.”

Here are the M40 shot results from Linz:
Shot Put, Men M40 – Final
Date: 18.03.2006 Begin: 15:15h
1 4310 Rubtsov Sergey KAZ 17,80 m
2 3872 Fedyashchin Andrey RUS 16,35 m
3 1804 Pyritz Enrico GER 15,74 m
4 2884 Nicholls John GBR 14,77 m
5 1801 Perplies Michael GER 13,60 m
6 3396 Jedrzejewski Krzysztof POL 12,94 m
7 3140 Greber Emmanuel FRA 12,59 m
8 3077 Adele David FRA 12,37 m
9 1826 von Wittke Jean GER 12,24 m
10 3585 Botes Braam RSA 11,71 m
11 1777 Kaup Heino GER 11,07 m
12 2603 Reiberger Wolfgang AUT 10,88 m
13 3951 Mattmann Hans-Rudolf SUI 10,76 m
14 2296 Abdelrahimsai Rahim AUT 9,55 m
15 1831 Werner Harald GER 8,97 m
16 1171 Cravotta Salvatore ITA 7,24 m
These were the M55 shot results:
Shot Put, Men M55 – Final
Date: 15.03.2006 Begin: 10:20h
1 2041 Krone Reinhard GER 14,79 m
2 2829 Griffin Neil GBR 14,36 m
3 3743 Knez Stipo CRO 14,01 m
4 3421 Semborowski Andrzej POL 13,87 m
5 3863 Rashchupkin Victor RUS 13,83 m
6 3248 Rechka Bedrich CZE 13,53 m
7 2062 Smarsch Helmut GER 12,92 m
8 3403 Krankowski Waclaw POL 12,88 m
9 4044 Talpsepp Lembit EST 12,81 m
10 2010 Bauder Richard GER 12,43 m
11 2048 Meier Manfred GER 12,24 m
12 4045 Nommik Päivo EST 12,15 m
13 2064 Sukkert Victor GER 11,38 m
14 3821 Virant Konstantin SLO 11,17 m
15 2024 Gabel Heinz GER 11,09 m
16 3427 Trziszka Tadeusz POL 11,00 m
17 4220 Harvey Rex USA 10,88 m
18 4256 Sager Bob USA 10,82 m
19 3151 Leclair Joël FRA 10,81 m
20 2054 Radon Gerhard GER 10,57 m
21 3843 Devetak Marjan SLO 10,52 m
22 3868 Nemkin Vyachaslav RUS 10,13 m
23 4069 Trops Alberts LAT 9,64 m
24 4125 Ruzsinka Istvan HUN 9,46 m
25 3247 Kratky Antonin CZE 9,16 m
26 2648 Schuler Hermann AUT 8,72 m
News of the suspensions was sent to me and also posted on the WMA Web site after I and others began making inquiries.
The German masters magazine Seniorenleichtathletik put the issue in play by reporting in its current issue that two athletes had been refused entry at the European masters outdoor championships two weeks from now in Poland.
The athletes weren’t identified until today. But in February, the Koops of Germany reported that an unnamed British athlete had tested positive at San Sebastian in summer 2005. It’s unclear whether that Briton was Griffin.
Griffin has been around for decades, and was ranked third in the world in the discus in 1998 behind Americans Tom Fahey and Lad Pataki. In 2002, Griffin was ranked second in the world in the M50 weight pentathlon. He took second in the M50 shot at the 2001 Brisbane world masters championships.
Fedyashin also won silver in the shot and javelin and bronze in the discus at the 2005 San Sebastian masters world outdoor meet.