IOC pledges "vastly" more drug tests to get cheats

The Olympic governing body promised to escalate its anti-doping fight by increasing surprise out-of-competition drug tests and improving the quality of testing.

The Olympic governing body on Sunday promised to escalate its anti-doping fight by increasing surprise out-of-competition drug tests and improving the quality of testing.

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International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said 22 athletes who were caught cheating during the Athens Olympics compared to 11 in Sydney four years ago were the result of tougher doping tests.

The IOC increased the number of tests in Athens by 25 percent to over 3,500.

Several high-profile athletes including Greece's top two sprinters who withdrew from the Games after missing a test and two athletics gold medallists who had to forfeit their prizes after testing positive and violating anti-doping rules, were among the 22.

"My dream that will never be fulfilled is to test as much as possible and to have no positive tests," Rogge told reporters on the last day of the Games. "You have 10,500 athletes in the Olympic village, you do not have 10,500 saints, you will always have cheats."

He said the IOC was in contact with international federations to test more athletes.

"I intend to increase that (number of tests) and I will increase vastly the unannounced out-of-competition testing. We have greatly improved the testing quality."