A new study has revealed what Olympic chiefs called an "astonishing" amount of drug taking by competitors at last year's Sydney Games with athletes admitting to taking an average of six to seven types of medication each.
The substances, such as anti-asthma products, multi-vitamins and pain-killers, are not banned by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) if needed for medical treatment. But IOC medical chief Patrick Schamasch said today that the high number had surprised officials.
"The average was six to seven per athlete. The highest was 29 substances taken by one competitor," Schamasch said.
"It is astonishing. It is quite an impressive number."
The study, which is due to be published in August, analysed the number of drugs that athletes said they were taking before undergoing routine tests for banned substances. Competitors are obliged to fill in a form detailing any medication they are using before giving a urine sample.
It was the first time that a study of this kind had been conducted at the Olympics. Olympic chiefs usually study data on banned substances that they find in an athlete's body, such as steroids, stimulants or growth hormones.
"Some filled in four to five lines (of substances)," said Schamasch who is a qualified doctor. Asked if he had ever taken seven substances at once, he replied: "Never seven."
Anti-asthma drugs, which can contain performance-enhancing products, provide the biggest worry to Schamasch who presented a report to the IOC's ruling executive board on the second day of a meeting in the Russian capital.
Earlier this year the IOC said it was worried by the abnormal number of competitors taking drugs to treat asthma and plans to tighten up the rules on the substances at future Olympics.
The IOC won one battle in the war against doping last year when it introduced a new test for EPO, a dangerous substance which boosts the number of red cells in the blood and is believed by doping experts to be abused by some competitors in endurance events.
The test, used on competitors before the Sydney Games, involves analysis of urine and blood. But Schamasch said the IOC was working on validating a test just for urine which would make testing easier for sports federations. He said he hoped to have a result in the next month.