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Report: Anna Chicherova, Russians among 31 Olympic doping re-tests

14 Russian athlete are suspected of doping during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
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Olympic high jump champion Anna Chicherova is one of 14 Russians that reportedly tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in the recent re-testing of 2008 Olympic doping samples, according to Russian news agency TASS.

Seven Olympic medalists are among the positive tests. The International Olympic Committee previously announced that 31 people from the Summer Games in Beijing had tested positive upon the re-examination.

Chicherova took bronze at the 2008 Olympics behind Belgium’s Tia Hellebaut, who won gold, and silver medalist Blanka Vlasic of Croatia.

Chicherova's coach confirmed that she had been notified of the positive test. 

“Three days ago, Anna received a notice that her doping sample from the Beijing Olympic tested positive after a re-check, and she called me,” Chicherova’s coach said. “So far, this is at the development stage and this has not yet been finally confirmed. But all are aware of this and are dealing with the issue.”

Since the 2008 Olympics, Chicherova won a silver medal at the 2009 world championship and gold medals at the 2011 world championships and 2012 Olympics in London. Her gold medal finish in London was ahead of Brigetta Barrett of the United States, who took silver. Most recently, Chicherova captured bronze at the 2013 and 2015 Worlds.

Report: How Russians doped, cheated at the Winter Olympics in Sochi

She did not compete at the 2016 world indoor championships in March as Russia was banned from international competition in November after the World Anti-Doping Agency uncovered evidence of systemic doping by athletes, coaches, senior officials and agents in the country. The IAAF will meet next month to decide whether or not to reinstate Russia and allow the nation to compete at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

The IOC has not confirmed the report on the Russian positives from Beijing. The “B” samples for the 31 athletes suspected may be tested in June.

The Russian Athletic Federation released a statement on Tuesday saying that if they are not banned from the 2016 Olympics, they will not allow any athlete with a previous doping ban to be selected for Rio.

Only the United States finished ahead of Russia with the most medals in track and field at the 2008 Olympics. Russia collected six golds, five silvers and seven bronze medals.

Below is a list of the reported Russian cheats from the 2008 Olympics, according to TASS:

Maria Abakumov (javelin silver medalist)

Inga Abitova (10,000m)

Denis Alexeev (women's 400m bronze medalist)

Julia Chermoshanskaya (4x100-meter relay gold medalist)

Anna Chicherova (high jump bronze medalist)

Nadezhda Evstyukhina (weightlifting bronze medalist)

Tatiana Firova (4x400-meter relay silver medalist)

Anastasia Kapachinskaya (4x400-meter relay silver medalist)

Alexander Kornilov (rowing)

Denis Nizhegorodov (50K race walk bronze medalist)

Alexander Pogorelov (decathlon)

Maria Shainova (weightlifting silver medalist)

Yekaterina Volkova (women's 3000-meter steeplechase bronze medalist)

Ivan Yushkov (shot put)