The president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) says the organization will instruct its anti-doping lab in Lausanne, Switzerland, to reexamine samples from the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics "using the most modern and efficient methods at its disposal."
The move follows allegations that dozens of Russian athletes who competed at Sochi were part of a “state-run doping program.”
"If the inquiry confirms that the allegations are true, this would be a shocking new scale of doping, with an unprecedented level of criminal activity," IOC President Thomas Bach said in an opinion piece published in French daily Le Monde on May 18.
Russia's Sports Ministry says it is ready to “fully cooperate” with the World Anti-Doping Agency in its investigation and "fully supports the IOC's actions to protect clean athletes."
Russia has already been banned from international athletics competitions following revelations in November of widespread state-sponsored doping.
Bach also says the reexamination of samples from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics in Beijing and London "will probably prevent dozens of athletes who have doped" from competing in the upcoming Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
The IOC will apply a policy of "zero tolerance," he said.