The International Olympic Committee says it is investigating two more doping cases that emerged at the end of the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The IOC said one case involves the banned hormone nandralone, while the other involves the stimulant methamphetamine. The IOC did not identify the sport, the athletes, or the countries involved.

If the tests are confirmed as doping offenses, the IOC executive board will disqualify the athletes and strip them of any medals they earned in Salt Lake City.

On the last day of the games, two cross country skiers - German-born Johann Muehlegg of Spain and Larissa Lazutina of Russia - were stripped of their gold medals after testing positive for a banned drug (NESP). However, their tests were conducted February 21, three days before the close of competition.

Meanwhile, The Internationl Olympic Committee is dismissing Austrian claims that blood-transfusion equipment found in a house used by Austrian cross-country skiers at the Salt Lake City Olympics was used for legal medical purposes.

The Austrian Ski Federation said its athletes used the material for ultraviolet radiation treatment of their blood, describing the method as being "exclusively for disease prevention" and not doping.

But the IOC and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) do not accept the explanation. WADA chairman Dick Pound said, "It sounds so far fetched that it has no credibility." IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch said any kind of blood manipulation is part of the doping definition.

Blood doping, whereby athletes draw blood and then reinject it to increase their oxygen capacity and boost endurance, is banned by the IOC. The IOC launched an investigation Thursday after cleaners found blood transfusion bags, tubes and needles in a closet in Midway, Utah, near the Olympic Nordic ski venue at Soldier Hollow. The house had been rented to the Austrian team and was used by about 10 athletes.

The local sheriff, Mike Spano, gathered the evidence and turned it over to doping controls officials of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for analysis. The IOC said it may use DNA testing to determine who was using the equipment. If there is proof of doping, the IOC could take sanctions against the Austrians, including possible disqualifications and stripping of any medals.

Austria won three Olympic medals in Nordic events at Soldier Hollow. Christian Hoffmann won silver and Mikhail Botvinov bronze in the 30-kilometer race, while Wolfgang Perner took bronze in the 10-kilometer biathlon sprint.

In Vienna, the Austrian federation said Nordic coach Walter Mayer had applied a "paramedical method" in order to prevent his athletes from catching colds and flu. The federation said the method consists of taking a small amount of blood - up to 100 milliliters - and subjecting it to ultraviolet light radiation and magnetic-field treatment before reinjecting it within 10 minutes. In addition, the athlete is given a vitamin C dose.

The federation said the Austrian team doctor, Peter Baumgartl, had not been informed the skiers were using the method.

The federation said the method is quite common among non-medical practitioners and at spas. It added there is no performance-enhancing component.

Some information for this report provided by AP and Reuters.

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