Russia doping scandal: 2008 medals could be lost after 14 athletes implicated in positive retests

A total of 31 athletes from six sports and 12 National Olympic Committees were implicated in the IOC’s findings

The Olympic and Russian flags flying at the closing ceremony of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics (Getty)

The Russian Olympic Committee said on Tuesday that it had been informed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that re-tests of samples from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing showed positive results for 14 Russian athletes.

The committee said in a statement that it would not give the names of the Russian athletes until the results of testing of their B samples and the start of official disciplinary proceedings.

Russia now faces being stripped of medals won in Beijing. The country came third in the overal rankings, with a total of 73 awards.

A total of 31 athletes from six sports who were likely to compete at this summer’s forthcoming gams in Rio were implicated in the IOC’s findings, which came after 454 samples from 2008 were retested using current technology.

12 National Olympic Committees, including Russia, were affected and the full details of all athletes implicated in the findings will be revealed and confirmed in the coming weeks.

Russia's athletics federation said in a statement on Tuesday that it would not allow athletes who had been caught doping in previous years into the Russian team for the Rio Olympics.

Reuters