31 athletes could get the boot from Rio Olympics after samples retested
The International Olympic Committee announced today that 31 athletes face a ban from competing at the Rio Olympics due to doping violations.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced today that 31 athletes from 12 countries in six sports could be banned from competing at the Rio Olympics after 454 samples had been retested from the 2008 Beijing Olympics. An additional 250 samples have been retested from the 2012 London Olympics.
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The tests were meant to target athletes who are expected to compete in Rio this August. The number of athletes tested who compete in athletics has not yet been revealed. The IOC performed the re-tests with the help of the World Anti-Doping Agency and the IAAF, the governing body for international athletics.
The announcement came from IOC president Thomas Bach, an Olympic champion in fencing, during a special executive board session.
“This is a powerful strike against the cheats we do not allow to win,” said the IOC president. The re-tests use the latest scientific methods in an effort to reveal whether athletes used banned substances.
The IOC takes decisive action to protect the clean athletes – doped athletes from Beijing, London and Sochi all targeted (1/2)
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) May 17, 2016
The IOC is funding the World Anti-Doping Agency to perform drug tests in an effort to ensure clean sport leading up to the Olympics. The Russian athletics federation is currently banned from international competition and is at risk to miss the Olympics for a lack of anti-doping regulations and its participation in state-sponsored doping.
Distance running has been riddled with positive doping tests in recent months and years as previous samples have undergone retesting with newer technology. The women’s 1,500m in London, for example, illustrates the extensive use of performance-enhancing drugs before, during or after the Games.
RELATED: Nearly half the 2012 Olympic women’s 1,500m finalists have been linked to doping.
As athletes are retested, those who finished off the podium have potential to move up spots and retroactively win hardware. Shalane Flanagan and Kara Goucher, a pair of American distance runners, are in line to get upgraded medals after Turkish athletes were banned from world events.
“The samples of those athletes who could be awarded medals following the disqualification of others will also be retested,” reads the IOC statement released today.
National Organizing Committees are expected to be informed of the 31 athletes in question, all of who are to be banned from competing at this summer’s Games which begin on Aug. 5.
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