LONDON, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Three gold and two silver medallists at the 2005 athletics world championships in Helsinki have failed doping tests in retested samples, the sport's govering body IAAF said on Friday.
They include three medallists from Belarus - Nazdeya Ostapchuk, who won the shot put, hammer thrower men's winner Ivan Tsikhan and silver medallist Vadim Devyatovskiy.
Russian women's hammer thrower champion Olga Kuzenkova and Russian long jump silver medallist Tatyana Kotova of Russia had earlier been named for positive doping tests.
Belarussian shot putter Andrei Mikhnevich, gold medallist at the 2003 worlds, who was sixth in Helsinki, is a sixth athlete to be found guilty of doping in the retests.
The IAAF said it had started disciplinary proceedings.
"The IAAF's message to cheaters is increasingly clear that, with constant advancements being made in doping detection, there is no place to hide," IAAF president Lamine Diack said in a statement.
"This re-testing is just the latest example of the IAAF's firm resolve to expose cheating in our sport.
"The IAAF will continue to do everything in its power to ensure the credibility of competition, and where the rules have been broken, will systematically uncover the cheats."
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