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Six more Olympic medalists stripped in Beijing 2008 retests

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP) — Nine more athletes, including six medal winners, have been retroactively disqualified from the 2008 Beijing Olympics after failing retests of their doping samples.

The International Olympic Committee announced the decisions on Wednesday in the latest sanctions imposed on athletes whose stored samples came back positive after being retested with improved methods.

Four athletes from former Soviet countries were stripped of silver medals, and two of bronze medals. The medals were in weightlifting, wrestling and steeplechase.

The IOC stores doping samples for 10 years to allow them to be reanalyzed when enhanced techniques become available.