Two members of the Greek baseball team for the Olympics have tested positive for banned substances, Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia said on Monday.

One man tested positive for a steroid and the other for a diuretic, the paper said.

"I was told the two baseball players tested positive in the first sample taken by the Greek Olympic Committee," said the head of the Greek baseball federation, Panagiotis Mitsiopoulos.

"We have asked for a second sample to be tested," he was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Mitsiopoulos said the player taking the diuretic had a medical condition and a prescription from the United States.

"Of course he had declared in advance that he has a high blood pressure problem and has a U.S. prescription for the medication in question," Mitsiopoulos said.

"For the second player, we will wait for the second sample before we can say anything. I hope that in the case of the player with the high blood pressure, officials will understand that he was taking the diuretic for medical reasons."

The Greek Olympic Committee was not immediately available for comment.

The newspaper said that the player who tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol was one of the main players of the squad and was living in the Olympic Village already, while the other was a substitute and had not stayed in the Village.

Ben Johnson, the disgraced Canadian 100 metres runner, tested positive for stanozolol after winning in the 1988 Seoul Games and was stripped of his gold medal.

The large majority of the Greek squad are Greek-Americans playing in the U.S. The Greek Baseball Federation's decision to include only two players from the Greek league led to the national coach resigning in protest.