IOC steps up drug tests ahead of Winter Games

LAUSANNE: More than 14,000 anti-doping tests on more than 6,000 athletes have been conducted in the lead up to the Winter Games in Pyeongchang next month, the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday.

The tests, conducted between April and December 2017, represent a 70 percent increase on the same period in 2016, the IOC said.Russian athletes were particularly targeted, twice as much as those from any other country in November and December.

The country was banned from the Winter Games in early December by the IOC over state-sponsored doping, in particular at the last Winter Olympics in Sochi in 2014.More than 40 Russians who competed in Sochi have subsequently been banned for doping following the retesting of samples. It means Russia has lost 13 of the 33 medals originally won in Sochi.

Athletes from 61 countries were tested in total.“Protecting clean athletes by fighting doping is a top priority for the IOC,” said the Olympic body’s medical and scientific director Richard Budgett in a press release.