31 athletes could be banned from Olympics after doping retests

World Today

Up to 31 athletes from six different sports could be banned from competing at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this August.

The International Olympic Committee made the announcement after retesting 454 doping samples from the 2008 Beijing games.

CCTV’s Dan Williams has the story from Madrid. Follow Dan Williams on Twitter @Danielclearcut

Rio de Janeiro may well be gearing up to welcome the world to the Olympic games but not everyone will be invited to that party.

In an interview last year with CCTV News, Dick Pound, the former President of the World Anti-Doping Agency, hinted towards taking such action.

“I think it is one of the many weapons we have in the WADA arsenal that you might beat us at the time and you might get home with the medal in your luggage. But we have a ten year look back and as our technology gets better and we find out you may have been taking now we can test for this,” Pound said.

The news adds more to recent doping scandals throughout the sporting world.

In November, Russia was banned from athletics competition following a WADA report. Kenya was also judged to have breached anti-doping rules and was found non-compliant by WADA.

The names of the athletes will only be revealed after they’ve been told the results and alternate “B-samples” are confirmed positive as well.


Russian athletes face scrutiny over Sochi doping allegation

Russia is facing more scrutiny over allegations of state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Games.

If they’re true, the International Olympic Committee Chief said Russia could face a wide range of sanctions.

CCTV’s William Denselow has our report from Moscow.

In a New York Times article, Russia’s former head of anti-doping, Grigory Rodchenkov said Russian officials helped rig doping tests at the Sochi Olympics.

If true, the International Olympic Committee said this would show an unprecedented level of criminality.

“Whoever is involved and is in the reach of the IOC will be sanctioned because this we owe to all clean athletes around the globe,” IOC President Thomas Bach said.

Russia’s sports ministry has been on the defensive since the release of a scathing report by the World Anti-Doping Agency last November, alleging widespread state-sponsored doping in Russia and resulting in a ban on Russian athletes in international competition. Russian officials said they’re committed to help cleanup global doping.

Some analysts in Russia don’t believe these latest developments will change Russia’s approach to reform.

“In my view the situation remains the same. If we’re talking about Russia athletics, the athletics federation is undergoing reforms. They are taking precise actions to reform that were suggested by the International Association of Athletics Federations,” sports writer Andrey Simonenko said.

The United States Justice Department is reportedly now opening its own investigation into Russian doping.