But the International Olympic Committee (IOC) had been on the lookout for cheats from Greece ever since the drug, methyltrienolone, turned up in the results of 11 Greek weightlifters in April, Don Catlin, a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency's committee for science and medicine, said.

 

The American said:  "The Greek case...involved the use of a particularly rare and dangerous anabolic whose use had not been officially recorded before.

"Whoever marketed it in Greece undoubtedly argued that it is not harmful and could not be traced, as only small quantities are needed for it to act."

In all, 15 Greek athletes in three disciplines - weightlifting, swimming and athletics - have tested positive for methyltrienolone, severely embarrassing Greek authorities which today tabled tougher anti-doping legislation in parliament.

 

Michalis Liapis, the Greek Culture Minister responsible for sport, said: "The [Greek] state wants clean athletes."

The new regulations cut rewards for successful athletes to discourage drug cheating and toughen sanctions against providers of banned substances, corrupt anti-doping officials and sports officials.

The doping outbreak has already sparked a preliminary judicial probe here.

Among those caught was Fani Halkia, the women's 400 metres hurdles at the Athens Olympics, whose coach George Panagiotopoulos has now been sued by the IOC for causing damage to its reputation.

Catlin is a senior Californian chemist whose research led to the uncovering of the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal and the first test for Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), the until then undetectable drug that led to the downfall of Britain's Dwain Chambers.