INDIANAPOLIS -- The Pan American Sports Organization, in a change of policy, announced Saturday that medals earned by athletes testing positive for drug use would be awarded to the next highest finisher.
PASO did not indicate the reason for the change.
When athletes were banned from the 1983 Pan Ams for drug use, their medals were vacated and not awarded to the next highest finisher.
A total of six Pan Am participants were banned from the Games Monday after testing positive for drug use. Three had won medals.
Gregory Appleton, Coppel, Texas, earned the bronze medal in the air pistol competition because of the disqualification of third-place finisher Bernardo Ocando of Venezuela. Ocando's violation also caused his country to lose a silver medal in the team air pistol. Peru moved into second with Uruguay getting the bronze.
Andres Charadia of Argentina was awarded the silver medal taken from hammer thrower Bill Green of Torrance, Calif. Cuban Vincente Sanchez, who went home and had to return to the Games for a drug test, was moved into the bronze spot previously held by Charadia.
In weightlifting, Orlando Vasquez of Nicaragua was stripped of three bronze medals. His medals in the snatch and total weight categories were given to Venezuela's Josue Farfan. Jaime Rodriquez of Chile replaced Vasquez for the bronze in the clean and jerk.
