KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia - After having none by the midpoint of the Winter Olympics, the number of positive drug tests grew to six Sunday when the Swedish Olympic Committee said hockey player Nicklas Backstrom had tested positive for a substance found in an allergy medication that he has taken for seven years.

The Washington Capitals center, by far the biggest name athlete to fail a drug test at the games, was scratched from Sweden’s 3-0 loss to Canada in the gold medal game.

During the course of the Sochi Olympics, more than 2,631 athlete samples were analyzed for doping - nearly 200 more than planned. It wasn’t until the final few days of the games that any came back positive, although it’s possible more could be announced in the next few days as tests are completed on samples taken in the final week of the games.

None of the six athletes thrown out of the games for doping in Sochi won medals. Five of the six, including Backstrom, tested positive for minor stimulants that are often found in food supplements and result in lesser sanctions.

The sixth positive was for EPO, used to boost an athlete’s count of red blood cells.

Austrian cross-country skier Johannes Duerr admitted to using EPO after he tested positive.

Sports, Pages 18 on 02/24/2014