London: Olympic chief Thomas Bach has announced that up to 31 athletes from six sporting event could be banned from competing at the Rio Games.
The announcement comes after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) retested 454 selected samples from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, in which 31 athletes samples have been caught in doping.
The IOC said the retests were conducted using the latest scientific analysis methods. Bach also said, IOC is awaiting the results of 250 retests from the 2012 London Olympics as well.
The IOC said these retests were focused on athletes who could potentially take part in Rio. It added 12 affected national Olympic associations would be informed in the coming days.