No Canadians Among 30 Banned Athletes

More than 30 Olympic hopefuls were banned from competing in Vancouver after failing pre-Games drug testing, the World Anti-Doping Agency revealed Thursday. However, no Canadians were among the barred athletes.

The announcement marks the first major round of bans related to performance-enhancing drugs prior to the opening of this year's Olympics.

The Canadian Olympic Committee confirmed not a single Canadian was on the blacklist of banned athletes.

The drug tests had been conducted by anti-doping agencies and international federations for Winter Game sports. Only those organizations know the names of the barred athletes and the sports involved, said David Howman, director general of WADA.

"It's a bit like before Beijing, when 70 athletes didn't go to the Games because they had tested positive beforehand," Howman told the New York Times. "The pre-Games testing is pretty intensive. We can say it was effective because there are some athletes who didn't come."

During the Games, the International Olympic Committee - armed with three dozen scientists and a special laboratory - takes over responsibility for doping tests.

Since it began testing on Feb. 4, the IOC has conducted 554 tests, 407 on urine samples and 147 on blood samples. None of those has turned out positive thus far, said IOC spokesman Mark Adams.

With files from CBC News