Meanwhile it was reported that the US Justice Department has opened an investigation into state-sponsored doping by dozens of Russian athletes. Russian athletes are expected to be among 31 individuals who could be banned from the Rio Olympics after their samples from the 2008 Beijing Games tested positive for prohibited substances, putting the country’s participation in Brazil under further scrutiny. The IOC retested 454 samples from Beijing, using new anti-doping techniques that were not available at the time of the 2008 Games. They targeted athletes who are due to compete in Rio and around 7% of those tests came back positive. Related: Russian doctors and athletes ‘switched urine samples’ at Sochi OlympicsThe IOC has requested Wada conduct an investigation into the Sochi laboratory.

Source: The Guardian May 17, 2016 07:53 UTC