More than 30 athletes could be banned from competing at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in less than three months, after their samples taken from the 2008 Beijing Games were retested to root out doping cheats.
The International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday that 454 samples from the Beijing Olympics were retested and up to 31 athletes in six sports could face bans from competing in Rio. No names of athletes were released or the countries they represent.
The executive board has agreed to initiate proceedings immediately with those athletes, with 12 national Olympic Committees to be informed of the tests in the coming days, according to a news release from the IOC.