Gold? Who, me??!!

American weightlifter Tara Nott said on Friday she was stunned to hear she had won Olympic gold after Bulgaria's Izabela Dragneva was stripped of her title for doping.

Nott finished second in last Sunday's women's 48 kg contest behind Dragneva but the Bulgarian then tested positive for the diuretic furosemide and was ordered to hand back her medal.

"It was just starting to sink in that I won the silver, so right now I'm kind of in shock," Nott said.

"I would obviously want to win the gold on the platform but it's good to know that those who cheat are getting caught.

"It will mean that some day we will have a level playing field and myself and the others will be able to win on the platform rather than after a drug test."

Nott, from Kansas, becomes the first woman in history to win an Olympic gold medal in weightlifting.

Her flyweight event was the first of the women's programme, which is making its Olympic debut in Sydney.

Her Olympic gold is also the first in weightlifting for the United States since 1960, when Chuck Vinci won the men's 56 kg weight class.

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