MONTE CARLO, Monaco -- U.S. sprinter Kelli White committed a doping offense at the World Championships and should be stripped of her two gold medals, track and field's governing body ruled Tuesday.

The International Association of Athletics Federations sent White's case to U.S. track officials for disciplinary action.

White should be disqualified and stripped of the medals she won in the 100 and 200 meters last month in France, IAAF general secretary Istvan Gyulai said. A final ruling could take months.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency must schedule a hearing with White. If it decides not to disqualify White and remove the medals, the IAAF would take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

White, the first American woman to sweep the two sprints at the worlds, tested positive for modafinil after winning the 100 on Aug. 24. She passed a drug test after winning the 200 four days later.

The IAAF gave White until Tuesday to produce medical documents explaining her use of the drug. She said her personal doctor prescribed the medication for the sleep disorder narcolepsy.

"The explanation has been studied and turned down," Gyulai told The Associated Press. "Our experts have determined the stimulant is performance-enhancing."

Modafinil is not on the sport's list of banned drugs, but the IAAF says it falls under the category of "related substances."

White denied taking the medication to enhance performance and said she did not know it contained a banned substance. However, she did not declare modafinil on her doping control form as required or apply for a medical exemption to use the product.

White said last week she will fight to keep her medals.

"Whatever I have to do to keep them, I will do that," she said.

The IAAF ruled last Wednesday that modafinil was a minor stimulant, similar to ephedrine, and carries a penalty of a public warning and disqualification. The decision allowed White to continue competing.

Had modafinil -- sold in the United States under the brand name Provigil -- been classified as a stronger stimulant, White also would have faced a two-year ban and been ineligible for the 2004 Athens Olympics.

The IAAF said a decision to strip White's medals was not automatic.

"She is disqualified only at the end of the procedure because further legal issues need to be exhausted," Gyulai said. "This can only happen after she has been given a hearing by her national federation."

Although White passed a drug test after the 200, the IAAF considers one positive test enough for disqualification from the entire championships.

If White loses the medals, the golds would go to fellow American sprinter Torri Edwards in the 100 and Russia's Anastasiya Kapachinskaya in the 200. In addition, White would lose the $120,000 in prize money she won at the worlds.

Under track and field rules, athletes are considered guilty of a doping violation if banned substances are found in their bodies, regardless of the circumstances.

White competed at the Golden League meet in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday and won the 100 in 10.87 seconds, leading an American sweep of the top three spots.

White is to run in the Grand Prix final in Monaco this weekend and a meet in Moscow on Sept. 20.