Those worries were intensified on Wednesday when his team-mate Robert Fazekas failed to produce a sample following his gold medal discus efforts, apparently after appearing for the test with a bag of urine strapped to his leg.

Testers subsequently called upon Annus in Athens and then again in Hungary, finally notifying him on August 27 of an anti-doping test for which he subsequently failed to appear.

That reason alone was justification for disqualification, however, the IOC have now also now re-tested the samples Annus provided in two separate tests during the course of the Games and discovered they belonged to two different athletes.

This would not normally have come to the IOC’s attention as these samples are referred to by numbers rather than by the names of the athletes who have provided them.

At a meeting of the IOC executive board this afternoon, Annus, who announced his retirement over the weekend after complaining of victimisation, was formally thrown out and a further investigation launched into alleged tampering with a sample.

He follows Fazekas and Russian shot-putter Irina Korzhanenko into the hall of infamy and brings the total of exclusions on drug-related issues to 24.

Koji Murofushi of Japan is elevated to the gold medal position with Ivan Tikhon of Bulgaria promoted to silver and Turk Esref Apak moving up from fourth place to claim the bronze.

Earlier today Colombian cyclist Maria Lusa Calle Williams became the latest Olympic medallist to be thrown out for failing a drugs test.

The 35-year-old finished third in the women’s points race on Wednesday but has subsequently tested positive for the prohibited stimulant heptaminol.

Calle Williams has denied taking any banned substance but under the IOC’s ‘strict liability’ rule she has now been stripped of her medal.

Her disqualification is good news for Erin Mirabella, who moves up from fourth to become the United States’ only track cycling medallist.