An International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) rule change introduced in June stipulated that any country registering three positives following the retest of Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic samples would be handed a 12 month ban from competitions.

Only nine of the 47 failures to have been published have been formally confirmed by the IOC, however, with it still not clear when more will emerge.

Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine are all facing the prospect of a ban subject to this IOC confirmation.

None of them have yet had a third case confirmed, however.

As well as this delay, three countries have also filed appeals to CAS about the new suspension rule.

Names of these three countries have not been confirmed but, considering the complaints were submitted in June when only three countries would have been implicated, it can be presumed they are Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia.

Russian lifters were unsuccessful in appealing a separate suspension introduced for damaging the "integrity" of the sport which saw them banned from the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro last month. 

insidethegames has not yet received a response from CAS about the status of the three cases, so it is not clear if rulings are likely to happen before the IOC process is finalised.

Canada’s IWF Women's Commission chair Moira Lassen has told insidethegames that the wait is "frustrating" as wider discontent continues to brew within the weightlifting community.

IWF director general Attila Adamfi refused to blame the IOC for delays but admitted that they had not been told a timeline, or the names and nationalities of those who have been tested.

He is keen to point out how the organisation are being "fully transparent" about the process.

All cases have been published on the IWF website, along with their progress, while a chart has also been detailed outlining the distinctive procedures they are following for both the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 processes.

More information on this is available in the anti-doping re-analysis section of the IWF website here.

Weightlifting has been by far the worst hit sport so far from the retesting process, which analyses doping samples using up-to-date methods.

Eight cases from Beijing 2008 and one from London 2012 have been formally confirmed.

If all those outstanding are finalised, athletes who originally finished as low as ninth could be upgraded to medal positions.

Of those still outstanding, arguably the most high-profile lifter to have been implicated is Kazakhstan's double under-94 kilograms gold medal winner Ilya Illyn.

"The result management of the reanalysis of the samples of the Olympic Games Beijing 2008 and London 2012 is still ongoing and the IOC announces the sanctions when each disciplinary procedure is completed," the IOC said.

"Please note that the IOC can only issue sanctions in the framework of the Olympic Games. 

"Outside Games-time this is the responsibility of International Federations."

List of weightlifters announced by IWF who have been implicated in the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic retests: