No positive tests - Milan-Cortina may be cleanest Games in a generation

The Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina took place from 6-22 February For the first time in 28 years, no athlete has been found to have taken a banned substance at an Olympics - at least so far. More than 3,000 samples were collected from almost 2,000 athletes during February's Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy, and no anti-doping rule violations have been reported. It is the first Winter Games since the 1998 edition in Japan to not have a positive test during the event.

In the years following the 2012 London Olympics, 31 medals were withdrawn and another 46 reallocated because of positive doping tests. The McLaren report, commissioned by the World Anti Doping Agency (Wada), later found that Russia was operating a state-sponsored doping programme from 2011 to 2015 - a period spanning the 2012 summer Games and 2014 Winter Olympics. However, just because there have been no positive tests yet does not mean there may not be one in the future.

Samples from athletes are kept for 10 years to allow for retrospective testing when new techniques emerge. That means it may be premature to describe these Games as the "cleanest". One reason for the drop in positive results is a significant increase in testing in the lead up to major events.

The International Testing Agency confirmed that 92% of participants were tested at least once in the six months before Milan-Cortina began, with director general Benjamin Cohen describing it as "our most extensive program ever implemented". The pre-Games testing did also find one alleged positive result. Italian biathlete Rebecca Passler was provisionally suspended by her country's anti-doping agency after testing positive for "Letrozole metabolite bis, methanol" on 2 February - just four days before the Games started.