MONTREAL — A Montreal-area doping-control expert says it is not surprising that 31 new doping cases have been discovered in retested samples taken from athletes during the 2008 Summer Olympics.
Christiane Ayotte, who works at the Armand-Frappier Research Institute, said testing technology is 1,000 times more sensitive compared with eight years ago when the samples were first analyzed.
"We have benefited from the new technology since the (2010) Vancouver Olympics, but it was not available in Beijing (in 2008)," she said in an interview. "So it's not surprising that new cases have been discovered. It's sad, but not surprising.
"Tests eight years later can now more accurately detect certain substances. I suspect anabolic steroids as our detection methods on that score have vastly improved."
The 31 athletes in six sports could be barred from competing at this summer's Olympics in Brazil, while other positive cases could emerge from the 2012 London Games.
The 31, who come from 12 countries, have not yet been identified by the International Olympic Committee but Ayotte has her suspicions.
"We can presume it's the usual suspects who are involved," she said.
Ayotte added the IOC "has its hands full" right now, due to recent claims by the ex-head of Russia's anti-doping laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who admitted to drugging athletes during the 2014 Games in Sochi.
Rodchenkov told the New York Times he gave Russian athletes a cocktail of drugs before the 2014 Sochi Games and switched tainted urine samples with clean ones.
"There have been demands from athletes — from all over, in fact — for the IOC to do something serious to show its firm commitment to work for a doping-free sports environment," Ayotte said. "(The IOC) doesn't have the choice with what it has just discovered."
