THE RUSSIAN OLYMPIC Committee (ROC) on Tuesday confirmed 14 athletes who represented the country at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games failed drugs tests when re-examinations were carried out.
It was announced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) last week 31 athletes from six sports could be banned from competing in the Rio Games this year after 454 doping samples from Beijing were reanalysed.
The ROC revealed it has received advice from the IOC that competitors representing Russia in three sports at the Games in China tested positive.
Re-tests were conducted following work between the IOC and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), with the focus on athletes who could compete at the 2016 Games, which begin on 5 August.
According to the ROC, the athletes in question will be named when ‘B’ samples are also tested and disciplinary proceedings have begun.
The results of the re-tests of 250 samples from the London Games in 2012 are still to follow.
The IOC last week also announced plans to investigate claims from the head of Russia’s anti-doping laboratory at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi that certain athletes from the country were part of a state-sponsored doping program to maximise home success.
Russia has been suspended from athletics competition by the IAAF since November following allegations of state-sponsored doping made in a WADA-commissioned independent report.
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