By Mark Staniforth, PA Sport, Salt Lake City

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said that while he could not remove all previous medals from Olympic drug cheats, he could remove their champion status.

The IOC announced that they had stripped medals from cross-country competitors who tested positive for darbepoetin, a substance which develops abnormal amounts of red blood cells.

Johann Muehlegg, a German who defected to Spain in 1999 because he said aliens told him to, won golds in the men's 10km combined and 30km freestyle.

He tested negative after those races, but positive after finishing first in the 50km on Saturday. He was ordered to give back his 50km gold medal.

Russia's Larissa Lazutina tested positive for the same substance after winning the 30km classical on Sunday.

Lazutina had previously won silver in the 5km combined, but was forced to pull out of the relay after a health scare relating to high levels of haemoglobin in her blood.

Ironically, after crossing the line first in the 30km, Lazutina had said: "This is my last Olympic Games. I think the sport is tainted. Sometimes we feel like we are criminals."

Also banned was Lazutina's team-mate Olga Danilova. She was thrown out of the 30km race after finishing eighth. She was allowed to keep the gold she had previously won in the 5km combined.

Rogge said he wished he had the power to strip athletes of their entire medals haul even if they only tested positive for drugs in one particular event.

But he said all the glory generated by those athletes would disappear.

Rogge said: "Competitors who fail drugs tests lose their moral status as champions even if they cannot be stripped of all their medals because of legal reasons.

"I think that the athlete will have no credit or merit and will not be recognised as the true Olympic champion for his previous medals. It's a moral issue. Medals are just symbolic gifts, so the whole symbolism will disappear."

Despite the biggest doping scandal to hit the Games since Ben Johnson tested positive in 1984 and was stripped of his 100metres title, Rogge insists the IOC's drugs policy is effective.

"It is just a sign that the IOC are succeeding in tracking down the cheats," he said.