More Athletes Fail Olympic Doping Retests

A further 45 athletes have been caught for doping after the retesting of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.

The new cases include 23 medallists, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) revealed.

It brings the number of athletes who have failed tests following the reanalysis of stored samples from the games in Beijing and London to 98.

The IOC said the second wave of retests produced 30 positive cases from Beijing and 15 from London.

A total of 1,243 samples have been retested so far with what the IOC calls "the very latest scientific analysis methods".

Previously, 30 positive cases from Beijing and 23 from London were found in the first round of retests.

IOC president Thomas Bach said: "The new reanalysis once again shows the commitment of the IOC in the fight against doping."

Russian athletes have been banned from competition by athletics' world governing body, the IAAF, because of widespread doping violations, a decision upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

There is now pressure on the IOC to extend the IAAF's ban to include all sports.

It is still to deliver its verdict and will consider it again when its executive board next convenes next, probably on Sunday.

An independent commission report earlier this week alleged state-sponsored doping by Russia centred around the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is calling for an independent commission, to include foreign experts, to look at the problems with Russia's anti-doping system.

He is proposing that Vitaly Smirnov, a Russian former Vice-President of the IOC, heads the new commission.

Mr Putin described Mr Smirnov, an IOC member from 1971 until 2015, as "a person with a flawless reputation".

The nationalities of the athletes involved in the 45 new cases have not yet been released.

More samples from Beijing and London, aimed at medal winners, are due to be retested while the Rio Games are under way.