The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne announced on Thursday, July 21, it had rejected a lawsuit filed by the Russian Olympic Committee and 68 Russian athletes challenging the decision by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to bar them from international competitions, including the Olympic Games in Brazil amid doping allegations.
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The IOC said 23 medalists from Beijing and eight medal winners from London were among those caught.
The IOC said the previous first wave of retests had found 30 positive cases from Beijing and 23 from London.
MORE MEDALISTS CAUGHT FOR PRIOR DOPING: Forty-five more athletes, including 23 medalists from the 2008 Beijing Games, have been caught for doping after retesting of samples from the last two Olympics, the IOC said Friday.
Russian officials have confirmed 14 of the 30 involved were their athletes, including Anna Chicherova who won bronze in the high jump in Beijing and went on to take gold in London.
Smirnov suggested in televised comments that the Russian doping scandal was a series of “misunderstandings”, and said the new commission would aim to eradicate performance-enhancing drug use from sport entirely.
Turkish weight-lifter Sibel Özkan was stripped of her Olympic silver medal in the 48kg weight class from the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has sent a letter to the IOC criticizing its blanket ban on the entire Russian Olympic team.
Ahead of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the English Heritage charity launched a campaign Thursday for the ancient equestrian sport to be included on the program at future editions of the games.
It is favored by athletes and bodybuilders attempting to lose fat while retaining lean body mass. Some users also say it reduces the amount of recovery time needed after injury.
The IOC said it was informing the national Olympic committees and global sports federations affected by the latest positives, clearing the way for disciplinary proceedings to begin against the athletes.
The third and fourth wave of tests are expected to continue throughout and after the Rio Games.
The latest are from four Olympic sports and across eight countries.
Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, said: “The new re-analysis once again shows our commitment in the fight against doping”.
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There were 138 samples retested from London 2012, involving athletes from two sports and nine countries. It said Friday that the backup “B” samples in two cases did not confirm the original finding, while an additional positive case was confirmed later.
