One Athlete Positive in Vancouver 2010 Doping Retests

(ATR) The International Olympic Committee says there was a sole doping offender at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics in more than 1,000 retested urine samples from the Games.

All Russian athlete samples from the Games were retested as well as all medal winners.

"Three adverse analytical findings, all coming from one athlete, are being taken forward for results management," the IOC said in a statement on Oct. 9.

The results are a stark contrast from the amount of doping positives found in retests from the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Summer Games, with 65 and 46 adverse findings respectively. The amount of doping positives from the Turin 2006 Winter Games retests have not yet been released by the IOC. London 2012 retests are still ongoing with the latest update from the IOC in April.

The doping retests for Vancouver 2010 were completed four months prior to the end of the statute of limitations imposed by the IOC of eight years. The IOC says it retested 1,195 urine samples, 70 percent of the total available.

"This wide ranging re-analysis is another demonstration of the IOC’s commitment to fight against doping and to protect clean athletes," said IOC President Thomas Bach.

Investigations into the anti-doping program at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games is also underway by two IOC commissions. Two WADA-backed investigations by Richard Pound and Richard McLaren found evidence of state-sponsored doping by Russia where hundreds of athlete urine samples were allegedly swapped for clean samples.

The inquiry and disciplinary commission, chaired by Samuel Schmid and Denis Oswald, respectively, are analyzing the findings by McLaren that showed forensic evidence for the tampering of urine samples. The commission are analyzing 254 of the urine samples collected from Russian athletes at the Sochi 2014 Games.

Moving towards the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics in February, the IOC is once again establishing a pre-Games doping taskforce to weed out potential violators before competition begins, a similar program to that used for the Rio 2016 Games.

The taskforce is distinct from the pre-Games testing program in that it identifies potential testing gaps and makes recommendations to relevant anti-doping organizations such as WADA, according to the IOC.

"The commitment of all Winter Olympic IFs, NADOs and National Olympic Committees (NOCs) between now and the Games will continue to help protect the integrity of sport and the right of clean athletes to compete on a level playing field," the IOC says.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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