Retested samples from Olympic weightlifters riddled with dope
BUDAPEST, Hungary - The International Weightlifting Federation says it has been notified of 20 positive tests, including medal winners, among the retested doping samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics
In a statement sent to The Associated Press, the IWF said Monday it was informed by the International Olympic Committee of 10 cases from the 2008 Beijing Games and 10 from the 2012 London Games.
It said the Beijing tests were "presumed" positives that still require "B'' sample analyses. The 10 from London were described as confirmed positives.
The IWF says the cases include medal winners. It did not give any names or nationalities.
The 20 cases account for a large part of the total of 55 positives which the IOC has reported so far, including 32 from Beijing and 23 from London.
The IOC stores Olympic doping samples for 10 years so they can be reanalyzed when new testing methods become available.
The current retesting program is targeting athletes who could be eligible to compete at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August. The International Olympic Committee started retesting blood and urine samples after revelations of systematic cheating from the now-tainted Russian lab at the 2014 Winter Games.
Russia was plunged into a doping scandal this month after a series of exposes by "60 Minutes," The New York Times, and others revealed a massive, seemingly state-sponsored effort to provide athletes with banned drugs and hide it from testing.
A former Russian anti-doping official allowed "60 Minutes" to listen to 15 hours of conversations he secretly recorded with a prominent doctor involved in the country's testing regime.
Russian state TV said they included 10 medalists, among them high jumper Anna Chicherova. She won the bronze medal in Beijing and went on to take gold in London.
Match TV said 11 of the 14 athletes from Beijing were from track and field, including 4x100-meter relay gold medalist Yulia Chermoshanskaya.
Spanish hurdler Josephine Onyia has been identified in Spain as being one of the athletes whose samples from Beijing was positive.