Pawel Kopczynski / Reuters

Russia's Olga Pyleva reacts after crossing the finish line in second place in the women's 15 km individual biathlon event. Pyleva was stripped of her silver medal for failing a drug test.

“We warned them a thousand times and again,” he told Russia’s Itar-Tass news agency. “Take only medical formulas that are in the team and come only to our doctors.”

The IOC has conducted 380 tests since the athletes’ village opened Jan. 31; Pyleva is the first to be caught by the most rigorous doping control program ever at a Winter Olympics. A total of 1,200 samples are being tested — a 72 percent increase over the number in Salt Lake City, where there were seven doping cases.

Brazilian bobsledder and former hammer thrower Armando dos Santos was the first athlete sent home from the Turin Games for using steroids, but that was the result of a test taken before the Olympics began. A dozen cross-country skiers were suspended five days for elevated hemoglobin, considered health checks by the ski federation that administers them — though they can indicate blood doping. Seven have been retested and cleared to compete; one failed a retest, and the other four had not yet been tested again.

It was a day full of the unexpected at the Olympic biathlon course as the heavy snowfall at the start of the race turned to sunshine and slush by the end, when Ukraine’s Lilia Efremova took the bronze. The only favorite to reach the podium was Anna Carin Olofsson of Sweden, who won silver.

She crossed just 2.4 seconds behind Baverel-Robert’s winning time of 22 minutes, 31.4 seconds. Efremova was 6.6 seconds behind Baverel-Robert, who set up her victory with 10 perfect shots on the range.

“I have never won a major race, so this is incredible,” the winner said.

So was Pyleva’s suspension.

“I’m not going to make any judgment, guilt or innocence right now,” said Steer, who finished 35th. “I’m just glad I know doping control’s going on.”

So is American Tracy Barnes, who said it hadn’t been obvious to the competitors through the first week of competition that doping control was as stringent as it is at World Cups.

Now, there is no doubt.

“I hope that someday our sport is completely clean,” Barnes said. “It’s a great sport. I don’t see how people can live with themselves doing stuff like that.”