Winter Olympics Hit by New Doping Scandal

The Winter Olympics has been hit by a fresh doping scandal after secret papers revealed up to a third of all medalists have provided dodgy drug test results.

Hundreds of skiers have escaped bans despite recording unusual blood test scores, with documents showing some skiers had blood so dangerously thick they should have been in hospital.

The database contains the results of more than 10,000 blood tests from 2,000 winter sports stars, according to The Sunday Times.

It also shows that about a third of all medals, including 91 gold medals have been won in the Olympics and world championships since 2001 by skiers who have recorded suspicious tests.

Russia, which has been banned from competing under its own flag at this year’s Olympics, tops the list of cheating countries.

The secret data also reveals that more than 50 South Korean skiers on the qualification list recorded unusual blood test scores, suggesting they could have cheated in the past but escaped punishment.

The fresh doping scandal comes just days before the opening ceremony in Pyeongchang, South Korea this Friday.

The database was leaked to The Sunday Times and German broadcaster ARD by a whistleblower who had serious concerns about the games’ integrity.

Two anti-doping experts, who looked at the data, found that many of the skiers had used two common blood doping techniques. Athletes either injected themselves with the banned drug erythropoitin or were given transfusions of their own blood that had been removed earlier.

James Stray-Gundersen, an American physician who worked in the past with the International Ski Federation, said: “There are a significant number of medalists that had abnormal or highly abnormal blood profile results that suggested there is a significant incidence of doping.”