TURIN, Italy (AP) – Eight Olympic cross-country skiers, including two Americans, were suspended after they were found to have excessive hemoglobin levels, the International Ski Federation announced Thursday.

The suspensions last five days from the day the tests were administered. The U.S. Ski Association said on its Web site that tests were taken Wednesday, meaning the athletes will be barred from competition until at least Monday.

That would keep the skiers out of the first cross-country events of the Olympics – the men’s and women’s pursuit on Sunday.

The suspensions mark the first hint of a drug scandal at this year’s games, where the IOC has said it plans to conduct some 1,200 drug tests. As of Tuesday, more than 100 IOC drug tests had been conducted with no positive results.

The cross-country testing was done by the ski federation, which said it sampled 224 athletes over two days this week. Athletes are training for the games at Pragelato.

Hemoglobin is the part of a red blood cell that carries oxygen from the lungs to all cells and can increase endurance. Illicit strategies such as the use of synthetic hemoglobin and blood transfusions have been used by some athletes to increase the oxygen in the muscles.

The American athletes are Kikkan Randall, 23, from Anchorage, Alaska, and Leif Zimmerman, 22, of Bozeman, Mont. The others are: Sean Crooks of Canada, Sergey Dolidovich of Belarus, Jean Marc Gaillard of France, Aleksandr Lasutkin of Belarus, Natalia Matveeva of Russia, and Evi Sachenbacher of Germany.

Sachenbacher won gold in the 2002 Salt Lake City Games in the women’s relay, and silver in the women’s sprint. She is currently seventh in World Cup rankings.

Calls seeking comment from the International Ski Federation were not immediately returned early Friday.

U.S. Nordic director Luke Bodensteiner could not immediately be reached for comment, and the International Olympic Committee declined to comment.

The federation said in its release that the competition ban is not a disciplinary action, but taken to “protect the health of the athlete.”

Under ski federation rules, athletes found to have elevated hemoglobin levels are barred from competing for five days after the date of the test. The federation did not specify what day the tests were administered, but the American ski team said the tests were taken on Wednesday. That means the five-day suspension would end Monday, pending a successful re-test.

This is not the first time that hemoglobin has tainted Olympic skiing.

In 2002 in Salt Lake City, Russia was unable to compete in the women’s 20-kilometer cross-country ski relay after Larissa Lazutina was disqualified for having high hemoglobin levels.

Lazutina later was stripped of the gold medal she won in the 30-kilometer classic-style race after she tested positive for the performance-enhancing drug darbepoetin.

Also testing for high hemoglobin at those games was Johann Muehlegg of Spain, who lost his gold medal in the 50-kilometer classical race after testing positive, also for darbepoetin.

In mid-January, World Cup cross-country skier Reto Burgermeister was suspended for five days for having elevated hemoglobin levels. The 30-year old Burgermeister was tested after training in Val di Fiemme, Italy, and then suspended by the International Ski Federation.

All previous blood tests taken since December 2005, showed normal levels, the Swiss ski federation said. Burgermeister is entered in seven events at Turin.

Randall, who goes by the nickname “Kikkanimal,” has won several national titles and competed at the Salt Lake City Games. She is a sprint specialist; her aunt, Betsy Haines, competed in the 1980 Olympics in cross-country and her uncle, Chris, was on the 1976 team.

Zimmerman is competing in his first Olympics.

AP-ES-02-09-06 2114EST