Six Olympic athletes turned up positive for doping in testing of samples from the Beijing Games, the IOC said yesterday.

The International Olympic Committee said a total of seven positive tests involving six athletes came back positive for CERA, an advanced version of the blood-boosting drug EPO.

Endurance events

The IOC did not name the athletes or sports involved, saying it was notifying the athletes through their national Olympic committees. The Italian Olympic Committee said one of the positive samples belonged to one of its male athletes, who was unidentified.

"Due to the presumption of innocence, the IOC will not comment on any individual case," the IOC said.

The IOC reanalysed a total of 948 samples from Beijing after new lab tests for CERA and insulin became available after the Olympics.

The testing, which began in January, focused mainly on endurance events in cycling, rowing, swimming and athletics.

"The further analysis of the Beijing samples that we conducted should send a clear message that cheats can never assume that they have avoided detection," said Arne Ljungqvist, chairman of the IOC medical commission.

The IOC will wait for word from the national Olympic bodies before holding any disciplinary hearings.

Any athletes found guilty of doping face being disqualified from the Olympics and stripped of any medals.

In the meantime, national and international bodies are free to impose provisional suspensions of athletes, the IOC said.

The Italian Olympic Committee said its athlete had been informed along with CONI's anti-doping prosecutor. Officials at CONI said they had not been authorised by the IOC to identify the athletes