A number of athletes from the 2008 Beijing Olympics have been sanctioned by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and stripped off their medals after they failed a doping re-test.

According to Reuters, the group of 16 mostly consists of weightlifters and wrestlers with a great number of them coming from the Soviet Union Nations.

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A statement released on Thursday by the IOC said that out of all the samples that were tested, 98 results have shown the presence of illegal steroids. This is after re-tests of the samples were taken from the 2008 and 2012 Olympic games.

The initial results presented were from two re-tests from the Beijing Olympics with a second and third tests currently ongoing with the results yet to be released.

"We have constantly attempted to root out cheats," read a statement by the IOC. "The protection of clean athletes and the fight against doping are our top priorities."

A great number of the athletes came in second and third with no gold medalist being on the list of those summoned.

The athletes mentioned in the statement by the IOC are three silver medalists Khasan Baroev (Russian, Men's 96-120 kg Greco-Roman wrestling); Vitaliy Rahimov (Azerbaijan, Men's 55-60 kg Greco Wrestling); and Irina Nekrassova (Kazakhstan, 63 kg weightlifting)

Four bronze medalists were also included, namely, Khadzihurat Akkaev (Russia, Men's 94 kg weightlifting);  Dmitry Lapikov (Russia, Men's 105 kg weightlifting); Mariya Grabovetskaya (Kazakhstan, Women's 75+ kg Weightlifting); and Natalya Davydova (Ukraine, Women's 69 kg weightlifting).

Other bronze medalists summoned include Denys Yurchenko (Ukraine, Men's pole vault); Chysopigi Devetezi (Greek, Women's triple jump); and  Asset Mambetov (Kazakhstan, Men's 84-96kg Greco-Roman Wrestling).

The remaining six came in at either fourth or fifth place. Elena Slesarenko, a 2004 Women's high jump gold medalist, was also summoned by the IOC. She will, however, retain her gold medal from the 2004 Athens Olympics.

Tagschina, 2008 beijing olympics, IOC, Olympic Doping, Olympics