Finland's Channel Four TV allege that Myllylä acknowledged using the endurance-enhancing drug during questioning by officers of the National Bureau of Investigation last April.

The National Bureau of Investigation declined to comment on the report, but Pauli Huuskonen, the head of the inquiry, admitted Myllylä, who won the Olympic gold medal in the 30 kilometres at the 1998 Games in Nagano, had been questioned.

Myllylä's victory was one of three medals he won in those Games as he also claimed bronze in the 10km and 4x10km, adding to the three Olympic medals - a silver and two bronze - he had won in Lillehammer four years earlier.

He also won nine medals in the World Championships during his career, including four gold.

The police launched the inquiry in 2008 to establish whether a number of complainants had lied to the Helsinki district court before it found the Finnish News Agency (STT) guilty of libel over reports filed in 1998 quoting anonymous sources as saying that doping had been used in Finnish cross-country skiing in the 1990s.

"I have been personally injected with EPO, but won't say who gave it to me,'' Myllylä was quoted as telling officers, according to Channel Four.

"It occurred during the course of my [skiing] career.''

Myllylä was caught doping with hormones in the World Championships in Lahti , Finland , in 2001 and was given a two-year competition ban.

When he returned, he was never quite able to reach the same level of competition and he retired in 2005 and has since suffered alcohol-related problems.

Myllylä was one of six Finnish cross-country skiers who tested positive for banned substances at the World Championships.

The skiers tested positive for hydroxy-ethyl starch (HES), a banned plasma expander, forfeiting four medals, including the men's team gold in the men's 4x10-km relay.

Police declined comment except to say they had questioned Myllylä along with other top skiers during their investigation.

"Even after this confession I cannot comment on the content of the story,'" Huuskonen told Iltalehti newspaper.

Myllylä is the third Finnish skier known to have used EPO.

In 2000, national-level skier Sami Heiskanen told investigators he had used the drug.

In 2003, female cross-country skier Kaisa Varis tested positive for EPO during the 2003 World Championships at Val di Fiemme, Italy.

Former ski coach Kari-Pekka Kyro, who acknowledged helping to dope skiers at Lahti , has said that there was systematic doping among Finnish skiers in the 1990s and that top officials knew about it.

In 2004, Kyro was found guilty of smuggling banned substances and attempted fraud.

He was convicted for importing EPO and human growth hormones during 1999 and 2000.

Former Finnish long-distance runner Martti Vainio, who later became a sport researcher, also has alleged that the use of banned substances by top Finnish athletes was widespread.

Vainio forfeited a silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984 after testing positive for banned substances.

In 2004, he said he had tried doping before Los Angeles and that the practice was common among Finnish athletes in the early 1980s.

Dr Timo Seppälä, the medical director of the Finnish Anti-Doping Agency (FINADA),  welcomed the confession from Myllylä (pictured), who is now 40.

He said: "It is fairly surprising that an athlete of Myllylä’s calibre says it like it is.

"Of course it is great that he admits his use of the banned substance.

"This clears the air

"In those days EPO did not show in the tests, and this was widely known.

"The substance must have been in a relatively broad use elsewhere as well, even though once again the issue seems to fall onto Finland.

Myllylä is unlikely to be stripped of his medals as, under the rules of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the statue of limitations is eight years.

Norwegian skier Erling Jevne, who was beaten by Myllylä for the gold in Nagano, claimed he would not be seeking to have the result overturned.

He said: "For my part, the issue is closed.

"Myllylä is a victim in Finland 's ugly sporting history."

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]