Since 2004, all samples collected for an anti-doping purpose at summer Olympic Games (OG) are stored and since 2015, samples can be re-analysed with improved analytical techniques up to 10 years after they were collected to catch doping athletes. In recent years, the detection window of exogenous Anabolic Androgenic Steroids (AAS) (e.g. dehydrochloromethyltestosterone and stanozolol) has greatly improved because of the discovery of their long-term metabolites excreted in urine.

For the majority (74%) of summer Olympic medals impacted by doping violations (1968–2012), these doping violations have been identified retrospectively. International Olympic Committee (IOC) mandated re-testing of the 2004, 2008 and 2012 OG accounted for 57% of the total number of impacted medals. It took a mean of 6.8 ± 2.0 years for these IOC re-tests that impacted medal results to be announced relative to the end of the OG in which the medal was originally won. 90% of all positive IOC re-tested samples (n = 142) contained metabolites of exogenous AAS with dehydrochloromethyltestosterone and stanozolol accounting for 79% of detected substances. Athletics (n = 64) and weightlifting (n = 62) were the most affected sports.

This study shows the effectiveness of long-term sample storage in identifying Olympic doping medallists indicating that this practice should extend to other non-Olympic events (e.g. World Championships and Continental Games) and additionally incorporate novel technologies/matrices that may have future capabilities to complement doping detection. In addition, the frequency of targeted out-of-competition testing prior to OG should be higher to increase the likelihood that doping athletes get caught prior to competing.