Eight Russian 2012 Olympic athletes doping retest positive

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) confirmed Saturday that doping samples of eight Russian athletes taken during the 2012 Olympics tested positive after rechecking.

"The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially notified the ROC that cross-checking of A tests of eight Russian athletes in three sport varieties, taken at the 2012 London Olympics, showed positive results," the ROC said in an online statement.

The ROC will soon inform the IOC the list of interested athletes that will be present during unsealing and analysis of their B samples, while ROC representatives would also be present as observers during the process.

According to the ROC, the names of the athletes would not be published until the results of the B sample unsealing are announced and the official disciplinary procedure is launched.

According to an IOC official statement released Friday, 265 selected doping samples from the 2012 Olympics were reanalyzed, as the rechecking is still ongoing and more results would possibly come out in the coming weeks.

On Tuesday, IOC said rechecking of more than 400 selected doping samples taken at 2008 Beijing Olympics showed positive results of up to 31 athletes from six sports, including 14 Russian athletes.

The IOC Executive Board agreed unanimously to initiate proceedings immediately and athletes involved could be banned from competing at the upcoming Rio de Janeiro 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Enditem