All samples taken during the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics are clear of the designer steroid THG, the International Olympic Committee said.

"These scientific findings are reassuring and confirm my initial gut feeling that THG was used on a limited scale," said IOC president Jacques Rogge.

"Nevertheless, the IOC will remain vigilant and will continue to deploy all means and resources to fight against doping."

The IOC re-tested athletes' samples taken during the Winter Olympics after THG, or tetrahydrogestrinone, was uncovered last year when a track coach sent a syringe with the substance to the US Anti-Doping Agency.

Five track and field athletes and four NFL players tested positive for THG.

Two positives for THG were recorded in re-testing of samples from the world track and field championships in Paris last year, while the international federations governing swimming and rowing turned up no positives in re-checking samples from their own world championships.

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