Abnormally high blood counts among 12 Olympic cross-country skiers marred the start of the Winter Games on Friday, launched in a glitzy ceremony of music and pyrotechnics.

The 12 have been suspended for five days and will miss events after the International Ski Federation ruled they could not safely compete due to their high red blood cell count.

The last four suspensions were announced as hundreds of dancers led spectators on a trip through Italian history, with a nod to Botticelli, Fellini and Ferraris.

The extravaganza reached its peak when Italian former cross-country skier Stefania Belmondo ignited the Olympic flame which lit up the night-time sky.

That splendour was a far cry from the bleak scene unfolding among the cross-country skiers.

Unless an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is successful, the skiers will miss out.

Eight who were tested on Thursday would be eligible to return to competition on Tuesday, missing the women's 15-km and the men's 30-km pursuits on Sunday.

Four more who were named as the Games were being opened will also miss the women's and men's team sprints on Tuesday unless CAS overturns the International Ski Federation's (FIS) suspensions.

FIS emphasised that the "start prohibition" is not a sanction, but is to protect the health of the athlete. No disciplinary measures will be taken.

Haemoglobin levels can be affected by altitude training or the use of agents to boost haemoglobin, FIS said.

TOO LENIENT

For one American gold medal hope, though, the Olympics were already over.

Balding skeleton rider Zach Lund was left sobbing and on the sidelines of the February 10-26 extravaganza when he was banned for a year and booted out of the Games.

An ingredient in his hair-restorer had caused a positive doping test at a World Cup race in Calgary on Nov 10.

On Friday a three-man panel from the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the punishment he received from the U.S. anti-doping agency -- a public warning -- had been too lenient.

They stopped short of banning him for the two years the World Anti-Doping Agency had asked for, but the one-year ban denied him his chance of gold.

"This is a bump in the road. I definitely will be back next year," he sobbed during a teleconference. "I will use this to build on to become stronger. I am an Olympian."

To add insult to injury he must now get used to the idea of being bald. "I would like to keep my hair. I am not comfortable with it (losing it) I would have loved to continue to take the product," he said.

"But with my career as an athlete I can't."

There were more tears from one of the suspended cross-country skiers.

BROKE DOWN

Evi Sachenbacher Stehle, a gold medallist in the women's relay in Salt Lake City, broke down during a news conference.

"My first thought was, 'A five-day suspension and I will miss my most important race on Sunday!'" the 25-year-old German said before tears rolled down her cheeks.

Her team lodged an appeal with CAS.

"We can't accept that athletes are being banned due to slightly higher blood cell counts, using the excuse of health concerns," German ski federation doctor Ernst Jakob said.

He added that Sachenbacher Stehle had a naturally higher count of red blood cells and should not have been banned.

Another of the suspended skiers was Robel Teklemariam who is set to become the first Ethiopian competitor in a Winter Olympics [Images].

Teklemariam, who carried the Ethiopian flag in Friday's opening ceremony, would still be able to race as the 15km classical is scheduled for next Friday, when his suspension would have ended.

Earlier, Giovanni Zotta -- an Italian representative on the IOC's anti-doping commission -- sparked a doping row when he said several athletes had tested positive for Erythropoietin (EPO).

The IOC, though, were swift to set the record straight. "This is absolutely wrong based on a misunderstanding," president Jacques Rogge told a news conference. "There is no positive doping case in Torino."