ATHENS, Aug 9: The war against Olympic drug cheats thrust five more athletes into the spotlight of shame on Monday as Athens put the final touches to preparations for Friday's opening ceremony.

With a cloud of suspicion lingering over some of the yet-to-arrive headline names in the U.S. athletics team, the attention turned to two Greek baseball players, a Swiss cyclist, an Irish athlete and a Spanish canoeist.

"Hands up, I did it," Irish 10,000 metres runner Cathal Lombard, 28, was quoted as saying in a newspaper interview, acknowledging a test had found the banned drug EPO (erythropoietin).

The athlete's agent Ray Flynn told RTE state radio: "I did receive an e-mail from him advising me that he had been informed that he had a positive test for EPO and ... he would be coming clean on it."

Swiss cyclist Oscar Camenzind was also named and shamed after testing positive for the same blood-boosting substance which enhances endurance. His Swiss professional team, Phonak, reacted by firing the rider.

The Swiss Olympic Association said in a statement the 1998 world road race champion had agreed to withdraw from the Games after being notified of the result of a urine test conducted in training last month.

The list of offenders grew with Spanish canoeist Jovino Gonzalez also testing positive for EPO. A Spanish Sports Council spokesman said he had been dropped from the Olympic team.

Two Greek baseball players tested positive for other substances. A Greek baseball team spokesman would give no names until a second sample had been taken, but acknowledged it was "100 per cent that two Greek-Americans" in his squad had failed tests.

The Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia said one of the baseball players had tested positive for the steroid stanozolol that led to the downfall of Canadian 100 metres winner Ben Johnson at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Athletes who fail a drugs test can expect to be banned for at least two years. The Athens Olympics are the first Games since the introduction of a global anti-doping code.

As the two Greek baseball players awaited a second test, a senior Greek official disclosed the world anti-doping body WADA had demanded detailed information on a host of Greece's top Olympic competitors.

"We will fully cooperate with WADA," said chef de mission Yiannis Papadoyanakis. "The Greek team will crack down on doping wherever we find it." The IOC said last week dope testers had extended blood sampling to all Olympic sports for the first time after being previously limited to endurance sports.

IOC officials say more than 3,000 tests will be conducted in Athens, a 25 percent increase from the 2000 Sydney Games. The U.S. athletics team has been battered more than most by doping controversy in the past few months, with four track and field athletes suspended for two years after an investigation into the BALCO laboratory in California.

The U.S. team for Athens still includes world 100 metres champion Torri Edwards, who awaits a decision on a positive test for the banned stimulant nikethamide. Triple Olympic champion Marion Jones is still under investigation by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). -Reuters