In an effort to protect clean athletes and safeguard the Games, over 14,000 doping tests have been conducted ahead of next month’s Pyeongchang Winter Olympics.
According to International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Pre-Games Anti-Doping Taskforce along with National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) and International Olympic Winter Sports Federations (IFs) tested over 6,000 athletes from 61 countries.
The IOC said there is a 70 percent increase in the number of tests conducted between April and December 2017 as compared to the same period in 2016.
The task force, which was set up to monitor and optimise the testing, has placed extra scrutiny on Russian athletes. Twice the number of Russian athletes were tested in November and December, as compared to those from any other country.