Commonwealth Games Hit by More Drug Revelations : Athletes: Record women’s marathon victory lost in turmoil over steroid use by weight lifters.

AUCKLAND, New Zealand â€”  Australian Lisa Martin made marathon history, but action on the eighth day of the Commonwealth Games was again overshadowed by drug-related revelations about weight lifters.

Organizers announced that a third athlete in as many days had failed a dope test, and said they would name him on Thursday after a second urine sample had been tested.

But in a report today from the British news agency Press Association, the third athlete was identified as Welshman Gareth Hives, who won three silver medals in the 100-kilogram category of the weight-lifting competition.

Assistant Welsh team manager Basil George named Hives as the offender, telling Press Association: “This is the biggest smack in the teeth we have ever had.�

No Welsh official was available today to confirm the Press Association report.

The two earlier offenders also were weight lifters--Subrata Kumar Paul of India and Ricky Chaplin of Wales. They lost their medals and were sent home.

In competition, meanwhile, Martin won the women’s marathon by 7 minutes, 47 seconds over second-place Canadian-born teammate Tani Ruckle, the biggest winning margin in women’s international marathon history.

Martin destroyed the field of 15 runners, leading for every step of the 26 miles, 385 yards, and posted a winning time of 2 hours, 25 minutes, 28 seconds. She broke the Commonwealth Games record of 2:26.07 she set when she won the title at Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1986.

At the cycling velodrome, Australian Gary Neiwand extended his country’s gold medal tally when he won the 1,000-meter sprint gold medal, defeating Canadian Curtis Harnett.