Retest of samples has found 10 suspect doping cases involving weightlifters from the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and another 10 cases from London Games in 2012, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) announced on Monday.

The IWF said on its website it had been notified by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that B samples of the Beijing tests had been under further analyses for confirmation as Beijing tests were "presumed" positives, while 10 from London were described as confirmed positives.

No names or nationalities have been released, but the tests involved medal winners.

The IWF said it will "proceed to the provisional suspension of the athletes as soon as the IOC procedures concluded."

The current retesting program is part of the efforts to protect the clean athletes. Last month an IOC official said the new testing campaign had caught athletes who participated in Beijing and in London Games and may have qualified for Rio.

The IOC stores Olympic doping samples for 10 years so they can be reanalyzed when new testing methods become available.

source : xinhua