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27th May 2016

23 competitors from London 2012 Olympics return positive drug tests

The athletes are from five different sports and six different countries.

Laura Holland

Four years on, they’ve failed due to retesting.

Olympic Chiefs have announced today that 23 of the competitors from the 2012 London Olympic Games have failed drugs tests. According to the BBC, the athletes in question are from five different sports and six different countries.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) retested athletes who are due to take part in the upcoming Olympics this year in Rio, Brazil. As part of the retests, they took 454 samples from the 2008 Olympics, which were held in Beijing, and 265 samples from the London participants.

IOC president Thomas Bach said, “These re-analyses show, once again, our determination in the fight against doping. We want to keep the dopers away from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.”

Of the retests, it was announced last week that 31 from the 2008 Beijing games came back positive while today it’s been revealed that 23 from London tested positive.

One person found guilty from the 2008 games was high jumper Anna Chicherova, who denies the new claims saying, “It’s the most complete shock. I can’t explain how it could have happened. I was always sure what supplements and medicines I was using.”