31 Athletes Caught Doping in Retest of 2008 Olympic Samples

A potential 31 athletes from six different sports could be kept out of this summer’s Olympic Games, due to drug positive samples from the 2008 Beijing Games. While the International Olympic Committee did not indicate specific names, the athletes are reported to come from 12 countries.

The IOC began retesting samples from the 2008 Games in order to make use of the most up to date technology. It is also retesting 250 samples from the 2012 London Games. Those retests were targeting those athletes with plans to compete in Rio. Athletes who will move into medal contention after these suspensions will also have their samples retested, reported the IOC.

While potential Rio competitors were the focus of the retest, the IOC does plan to run a “wider retesting program” of medalists. Olympic samples are stored for 10 years, so that they may be retested with up to date technology. Athletes caught doping are retroactively disqualified and lose their medals.

After last week’s report from The New York Times that drug samples from the 2014 Sochi Games were tampered with, the IOC reported that those tests would also be reanalyzed. Additionally, the IOC has asked the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate those allegations about the Russian drug-testing operation.

Read the full ABC story here.

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