The International Olympic Committee announced that 31 athletes from the 2008 Beijing Olympics had tested positive for doping after drug samples were retested using updated methods. Similar retests are under way for the London 2012 Games. The IOC, which stores samples for 10 years in order to disincentivize doping, re-tested 454 samples from Beijing from athletes who were expected to participate in the Rio Games. The plan is to ban all 31 who failed the new test. The athletes have not yet been identified.
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The 31 athletes are from 12 different countries and participated in six different events. In addition to the 250 pending re-tests from London, the IOC will also begin a "wider retesting program" specifically targeting medalists from Beijing and London, as well as retests on any would-be medalists who would move up if a previous medalist gets disqualified.The IOC has begun disciplinary proceedings against the newly found athletes and will notify the appropriate national Olympic committees in the next few days."All these measures are a powerful strike against the cheats we do not allow to win," IOC president Thomas Bach said. "They show once again that dopers have no place to hide. We keep samples for 10 years so that the cheats know that they can never rest.
"By stopping so many doped athletes from participating in Rio, we are showing once more our determination to protect the integrity of the Olympic competition."