BEIJING -- North Korean shooter Kim Jong-su, who won a silver and a bronze at the Beijing Olympics, has tested positive for doping and been expelled from the Games, an International Olympic Committee official said Friday.
Kim, who won the silver in the 50-meter pistol on Tuesday and the bronze in the 10m pistol last week, has failed the test along with a Vietnamese artistic gymnast, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said at a news conference.
Kim, 31, has been found to have taken banned beta-blocker drugs -- which help athletes stay still and dampen bad memories in games that require concentration -- while his medals have been given to his runners-up, Davies said.
Kim, who won the bronze medal in the 50m pistol in Athens four years ago, was edged out by South Korean Jin Jong-oh in the same event on Tuesday at the Beijing Shooting Range Hall, finishing second.
The North Korean, who first began his Olympic competition in 2000 in Sydney, finished third in the 10m pistol on Saturday, bringing his country its first medal at the Beijing Olympics.
"As an athlete, the gold medal is the ambition and the hope. So to achieve it, I will go to any lengths," he told told reporters earlier this week.
Kim has been expelled from the Aug. 8-24 Olympics along with female Vietnamese athlete, Thi Ngan Thuong Do, Davies said. Kim could face up to two years of suspension from international shooting competitions.
The Vietnamese athlete has tested positive for furosemide, an agent used to mask the use of other drugs, according to the IOC, which has conducted over 1,500 doping tests so far since the Games kicked off a week ago. (Yonhap)