The current peak was at the Games in Beijing in 2008. After re-analysing samples collected during the Games, a total of 58 cases has been registered in the Anti-Doping Database. That number was nearly twice as high as the number of athletes banned at the Athens Games four years prior where “only” 36 athletes was banned. The Games in Athens were marred by the evation cases involving two sprinters from Greece.
The London Games four years after the Games in the Chinese capital totalled at 54 sanctioned athletes after re-analysis had been performed on the samples collected.
At the Sydney Games in 2000 the total number of athletes banned for an anti-doping rule violation were 22.
Has the Games become cleaner?
Since London in 2012 the number of positive doping cases has dropped dramatically. In Rio in 2016 only seven athletes has been registered in our database. And in Tokyo in 2021 the number of athletes registered was only six.
And so far in Paris there has only been three positive cases.
The International Testing Agency has just started re-analysing the samples collected at the Rio Games. The number of positive cases from those Games may rise.
Russia tops the list
Of the more than 200 athletes sanctioned, 35 of them come from Russia. That is double compared to the nation in second place – Ukraine with 17.
15 athletes from Belarus has been sanctioned after testing postive during the Games.
We’ve only registered that seven athletes from USA has tested positive during the Games.
Weightlifting and Athletics – the dirtiest Olympic Sports
There are two sports who really “shines” in our statistics. Namely Weightlifting and Track and Field. The first sport has had 94 doping cases happening during the Games. The second has “only” 77.
It is a big gap down to the third sport on the list – wrestling. Only 11 athletes competing in this sport has been given a sanction after violating an anti-doping rule during the Games.
Each of the mentioned Games has more than 10.000 participants. Out of these some 200 athletes has been violating an anti-doping rule.
Statistics for the last seven Olympic Summer Games
2000 Sydney: 10651 athletes – 22 doping sanctions (0,21%)
2004 Athens: 10625 athletes – 36 doping sanctions (0,34%)
2008 Beijing: 10942 athletes – 58 doping sanctions (0,53%)
2012 London: 10568 athletes – 54 doping sanctions (0,51%)
2016 Rio: 11238 athletes – 7 doping sanctions (0,06%)
2020 Tokyo: 11420 athletes – 6 doping sanctions (0,05%)
2024 Paris: 11136 athletes – 3 doping sanctions (0,03%) (as of August 6, 2024)
The total doping percentage across all games is 1.32%.