Nine banned for drug use so far

A total of nine Olympians have been suspended for drug use so far, including six who have been banned from the athletes' village, International Olympic Committee officials said yesterday.

Patrick Schamasch, head of the IOC medical commission, said the other three - all wrestlers, two from Egypt and one from Morocco - were suspended before they arrived at the village.

The village was off limits for another six: a weightlifter from Taiwan, an Iranian boxer, a swimmer from Kazakstan, a weightlifter from Norway and two weightlifters from Romania, he said. All were the result of out-of-competition tests.

The positive tests for the Romanians are in addition to a team-mate who tested positive earlier in the year, leading to expulsion of the entire Romanian weightlifting contingent from the Olympics.

Although there had been suggestions that members of the team who had not tested positive might be allowed to compete if the Romanians paid a $US50,000 ($121,270) fine to the International Weightlifting Federation, Schamasch ruled out that possibility.

"We have been very clear," he said. "The whole team will have to leave the village. The fine never, never has to replace a suspension or sanction."

Despite the number of weightlifters involved, Schamasch said IOC officials were confident that the sport's governing body was taking the right measures to fight doping.

"We are very confident in the programme that has been implemented. The weightlifting federation has done a huge job in the fight against doping," he said, adding that the rash of positive tests "proves the net is tight enough."

He did not identify the drugs or athletes involved. No one has tested positive so far for performance-enhancing EPO, the subject of a recently approved test. IOC medical teams have already conducted 291 urine tests and 189 recently approved tests for EPO in Sydney, with no positive results so far.