A Russian news agency has reported the names of 14 Russian athletes it says are among the 31 whose urine samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics failed an anti-doping retest this year, and no swimmers were listed.
News broke last week that a retest of urine samples from Beijing found 31 new anti-doping violations. The International Olympic Committee is allowed to freeze and store athletes urine samples for a set period of time, retesting the samples in future years as anti-doping techniques improve.
Specific names and countries of the 31 athletes were not released, as each athlete’s B sample will have to be tested at an Australian lab next month to confirm the positive tests. The International Olympic Committee only reported that the group comprised 12 different nations and 6 different sports.
But state-run Russian news agency TASS reported earlier today that 14 of the 31 athletes came from Russia. Later in the day, TASS reported all 14 names it says are suspected. 11 are from track and field, 2 from weightlifting and one from rowing. No swimmers were included in the TASS report.
If TASS’s list of names is accurate and the numbers originally reported by the IOC hold up, that means there are still 17 athletes from 11 different nations and 3 more sports whose samples tested positive.
You can find the full list of names in the TASS report here. The most well-known name is high-jumper Anna Chicherova, who won the bronze medal in Beijing but also won the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
