The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has drawn up a hit-list of athletes to be drug tested in the build-up to the Sydney Games.

The athletes, all involved in endurance sports, will be tested for the banned performance-enhancing drug EPO which increases the supply of oxygen in the blood.

IOC medical director Patrick Schamasch said the list had been compiled to make testing more efficient.

"We don't want to just do random testing," said Schamasch.

It was only two weeks ago the IOC announced they would be able to test for EPO for the first time by using a joint blood and urine test.

But with only a maximum of 400 tests for EPO to be carried out during the Games the medical commission decided to target those athletes who would most benefit from the drug.

"Testing began six days ago and we are expecting the first results shortly," said Schamasch. "So far we have done 20 EPO tests and are planning 301 but if everything goes well that figure could rise to 400."

But Schamasch admitted the EPO testing will only be done in and around Sydney.

One of the reasons is that the blood must be tested within eight hours of being taken and the difficulty of getting the samples to the IOC-approved lab in Sydney in time.

The IOC is convinced that it will win any legal action taken by athletes found positive but they are determined to reduce the number of possible arguments a guilty athlete can use.

The IOC has confirmed that any athlete refusing to give a blood sample will be considered guilty of doping.

News of the hit-list came only a day after China revealed it had dropped 27 athletes from its team for the Sydney Olympics after carrying out drug tests.

The final list of China's Olympic participants has only 284 names on it, down from the 311 names provided by the Chinese Olympic Committee in late August.

Some of the athletes were deleted from the list because the results of their blood tests had been suspicious.

Schamasch, praising the Chinese for their tough stance, said that some of the drug tests carried out by the Chinese authorities were more severe than those carried out by the IOC.

He added that the Chinese had decided to err on the side of caution.

The first wave of Chinese athletes arrived at Sydney airport yesterday. Nine archers, 22 shooters and four triathletes emerged from customs but a barrier kept a large media contingent at bay.

Meanwhile, Australian customs seized banned performance-enhancing human growth hormone from an Uzbekistan Olympic official at the airport.

More than two vials of the banned drug, for which no tests have been approved for next week's Games, were seized. The steroid was found as part of a targeted customs search.

Dick Pound, IOC vice president and head of the World Anti Doping Agency, said the seizure highlighted the success of heightened co-operation between the IOC and national governments in efforts to crack down on drug use in sport.

"You have got to be nuts with all the publicity on cracking down on drug use in the Games to come whistling through customs with HGH," he said.

Australian Olympic Committee secretary general Craig McLatchey said it was impossible to eliminate all possible drug cheats.

"I don't think either SOCOG or the AOC have ever proposed that this would be categorically a drug-free Games," he said.

"What we have done is taken more steps than any previous organising committee - and more importantly with the help of the IOC - we have introduced the most comprehensive anti-doping framework in Games history."

Meanwhile, equestrian rider Eric Lamaze has been kicked off the Canadian Olympic team following a positive drug test for cocaine.

Hammer thrower Robin Lyons was also removed from the team yesterday after testing positive for an anabolic steroid.

Lamaze, a former Canadian equestrian champion, also tested positive in 1996 and was suspended from competition for four years. His suspension was commuted to seven months after he appealed on the grounds he took cocaine before the 1996 Olympic trials for personal use.

Czech weightlifter Zbynek Vacura will not be competing in the Games after testing positive for an anabolic steroid, according to Prague radio.

Hungarian sprinters Gabor Dobos and Judit Szekeres have been suspended for two years for doping, the International Amateur Athletics Federation announced in Monaco yesterday.