IOC Strips Russia of 21 Medals Gained at 2008, 2012 Olympics

Russia has lost 13 medals earned during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and eight - during the 2012 Olympics in London by decision of the International Olympics Committee (IOC) taken after reanalysis of samples.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — IOC has already carried out two waves of reanalysis of samples from the London and Beijing Olympics, retesting the total of 1,243 samples, out of which 98 proved positive, and two more waves are expected to take place.

Earlier on Friday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) issued a four-year ban for Russian middle distance runner Mariya Savinova-Farnosova over doping use and stripped her of all medals, gained from July 2010 to August 2013, including a golden medal received at the London Olympics.

In late January, the IOC published a press release in which it said that Russian triple jump and long jump champion Tatiana Lebedeva had been stripped of her silver medals from the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, after banned substances were allegedly found during repeat tests of her samples from the games.

The IOC stores the samples for ten years and may carry out reanalysis, aimed at protecting clean sports, using the latest scientific methods, and the two waves of retests were initiated in the light of intelligence-gathering process initiated in 2015 and involving the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and International Federations (IFs).

After the reports by WADA independent commission headed by Richard McLaren were issued, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) banned the Russian athletes from taking part in international competitions including the 2016 Summer Olympics and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) banned all Russian Paralympic athletes from the 2016 Summer Paralympics and the 2018 Winter Games.