This was confirmed today by the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), who have vowed not to name any of those implicated until after their B-samples have been tested.

Fourteen Russian are also among the 31 positive samples registered following Beijing 2008.

This means there are a total of 22 cases from the world's largest country, although it is possible the same athletes could be implicated in both the Beijing and London samples.

Among the Beijing cases reported by Russian state television this week, citing the ROC, is silver medal winning high jumper Anna Chicherova, a major icon who won gold four years later in London.

Others include Yuliya Chermoshanskaya, a member of the gold medal winning 4x100 metres relay quartet, and Anastasia Kapachinskaya and Tatiana Firova, who both won silver as part of the 4x400m relay team.

Others include bronze medal winning high jumper Anna Chicherova, who has since won gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games, javelin silver medallist and 2011 world champion Maria Abakumova and bronze medal winning 50km racewalker Denis Nizhegorodov.

Yekaterina Volkova, the 2007 world champion who won bronze in the 3000m steeplechase behind world record breaking team-mate Gulnara Galkina-Samitova, is also named, as is Denis Alexeev, a member of the bronze medal winning 4x400m quartet.

The list of medal winners is completed by two weightlifters in under 58 kilogram silver medallist Marina Shainova and under 75kg third placed finisher Nadezhda Evstyukhina.

Belgium stand poised to claim 4x100m relay gold if Russia's women are disqualified.

Spanish hurdler Josephine Onyia is the only other reported name so far, with the remaining 16 Beijing and 15 London samples yet to be revealed.

Six different countries are implicated in the London 2012 retests, the IOC said, with the failures spanning five sports.