1ST LEAD Report: Cross-country medallists under suspicion over blood counts By Andreas Schirmer and Barry Whelan, dpa

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Almost one in two of all cross-country skiing medals at Olympic Games and world championships between 2001 and 2017 were won by athletes who had one or more conspicuous blood counts, according to a report published Sunday. Secret data on more than 10,000 blood tests by nearly 2,000 winter sports athletes has been leaked to an investigative team of reporters showing that a total of 313 medals - including 91 golds - are under suspicion.The report comes just days before the start of the Pyeongchang Olympics and follows research by a doping team from German broadcaster ARD, the Britain‘s Sunday Times, Swedish television SVT and the Swiss digital magazine Republik.The database comes from a whistleblower "who seriously cares about the integrity of the games," the ARD report said.A natural cause for the unusual levels of suspicious blood counts shown in the tests is thought highly unlikely."According to experts, the probability of a cause other than doping for such values ??among top athletes is one per cent," ARD said."Among cross-country skiers who did not reach the podium, the proportion of abnormal blood values ??is significantly lower."Experts believe the figures indicate athletes either injected themselves with the banned drug erythropoitin (EPO) or were given transfusions of their own blood from stored bags to boost their red cell count.The data also reveals that more than 50 cross-country skiers on the qualification list for the Pyeongchang Games showed abnormal blood test values. This suggests "that they may have cheated in the past and got away without sanction," the ARD report said.The largest number of athletes with suspicious blood values are from Russia, which has been banned from competing under its own flag at the Olympics.But cross-country athletes from Norway, Sweden, Austria, Germany and others are also among medal winners with conspicuous blood counts, ARD said.The Sunday Times report said the leaked data showed that 13 of the athletes from different nations on the starting line-up for the men‘s 50-kilometre freestyle cross-country race at the 2014 Sochi Games had previously given blood counts with abnormal values. Seven of the 13 had registered blood scores that had less than a one in 1,000 chance of being natural.The race was won by Alexander Legkov in a Russia sweep of the podium places. Legkov was among 28 Russians who successfully appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against a life-time ban imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).The IOC‘s invitation review panel is now examining whether those Russian athletes still active can attend the Pyeongchang Games, which open on Friday. Of the 28 athletes, 13 have retired from sport, leaving 15 still able to take part, two of whom are now coaches.IOC president Thomas Bach said Sunday the CAS ruling "does not mean you are entitled to receive an invitation from the IOC, because receiving this is a privilege for clean Russian athletes."The invitation review panel will make its recommendation and the decision will be taken by the IOC‘s Olympic Athlete from Russia implementation group. "I hope very much this decision will come in the next couple of days," Bach said.