On Friday, the IOC said there would be far fewer positive drugs tests in Beijing than initially expected as officials were catching up with cheats.

The IOC had said previously it expected some 30-40 positive cases out of a planned 4,500 tests, the most conducted at an Olympics.

In Athens four years ago, there were a total of 26 cases of positive tests or other anti-doping rule violations such as refusal to provide a sample or missed drugs controls from some 3,300 tests.

But more intensive pre-Games testing by international sports federations, national Olympic committees and the World Anti-Doping Agency had yielded results this time, said the IOC.

Before Friday, only three athletes had tested positive out of about 2,200 tests after six days of competition, it said.

The Greek Olympic Committee, alarmed by the number of positive cases, had pledged before the Games to test every team member at least twice to avoid more embarrassment.