Several cross-country skiers who registered high haemoglobin levels days before the Winter Olympic Games in Turin opened must have taken banned substances, World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound said on Thursday.

"Frankly, we think we are dealing with doping," Pound, also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member, said.

"It is too much of a coincidence to have 12 athletes with hugely high Hb (haemoglobin) levels just before the Games."

The IOC is responsible for drugs testing during the Games and WADA's role is to operate as an independent observer monitoring doping procedures from notification to sample collection and analysis.

A total of 12 athletes, all cross-country skiers, registered high Hb values and were suspended by the International Skiing Federation for five days due to health concerns.

The FIS said high altitude training is the most likely cause for the rise in the Hb level.

The skiers were suspended pending re-testing before their competitions. Several of them had reduced levels after re-testing and were allowed to compete again.

Pound, a practising lawyer in his native Canada [Images], said the FIS is brushing the problem aside by calling it a health issue.

"I think we are going to have another look [after the Games]. It is easier to deal with it as a health problem than doping problem."

"They [FIS] might be afraid that they are not able to prove that they were drugged."

FIS secretary general Sarah Lewis reaffirmed their position that the blood levels were related to altitude.

"We have an extremely close relationship with WADA, they are not questioning our work," Lewis said.

The IOC has been trying to crack down on cheats aggressively in recent years, significantly increasing doping tests. So far, during the Olympics [Images] it ran over 180 tests which were all negative.

NHL ATTACK

Pound praised pre-Games testing saying it had gone extremely well, scaring off or catching cheats.

"There are a number of people who aren't here that would have been here otherwise," he said.

Asked whether WADA is winning the war on drugs, Pound said it is having an impact.

"Have we won the war? No. We are getting closer."

Pound, who recently enraged the National Hockey League (NHL) in North America by suggesting 30 percent of ice hockey players are using banned substances, said most hockey players coming to Turin would be clean.

But he again criticised the League, which only recently introduced an anti-drugs policy, for failing to tackle the problem sooner.

"They [athletes] had several months to get ready to be tested [for the Olympics]. But the NHL up until January never tested them. For 30 years it never tested them."

Pound said genetic doping, a major future concern for WADA, could be tackled if the agency developed testing methods early enough.

"If we get the kind of testing early I do not think it will be a problem," he said. "But it is a very dangerous thing. We don't know what it does to you."

Asked how he liked the Games so far, Pound said: "It's been delightful."