The International Olympic Committee will take action against any Olympic athletes found guilty of the latest doping allegations rocking the sport of track and field, IOC president Thomas Bach said on Monday.
Bach said it was up to the World Anti-Doping Agency to investigate the allegations, including that one-third of medals in endurance races at the Olympics and world championships from 2001 to 2012 were won by athletes who recorded suspicious blood tests.
"If there should be cases involving results at Olympic Games, the IOC will react with zero tolerance with our usual policy," Bach said.
Australian walker Jared Tallent remains hopeful he will be be retrospectively awarded the gold medal from the 50km race at the 2012 London Games, having finished second to Russian drug cheat Sergey Kirdyapkin.
German broadcaster ARD and The Sunday Times newspaper in Britain said they obtained access to the results of 12,000 blood tests involving 5000 athletes.
The leaked files came from the database of the International Association of Athletics Federations. The report said 800 athletes, competing in disciplines ranging from the 800m to the marathon, registered blood values that were considered suspicious under WADA standards.
The report found that 146 medals - including 55 golds - in those disciplines at the Olympics and world championships were won by athletes who have recorded suspicious tests. The IOC's stance was backed by Athletics Australia and the Australian Olympic Committee.
"The contents of the articles is alarming," said AA chief executive Phil Jones. "Athletics Australia is currently working to ascertain further information about the alleged leaked IAAF test reports that have been obtained to form the basis of the articles.
"The accusations made must be properly investigated." Speaking from Kuala Lumpur, AOC president John Coates said his organisation took the same zero tolerance approach to doping as did the IOC.
"The latest allegations are disturbing and I welcome the announcement that they will form part of the current investigation being conducted into track and field," he said in a statement.
The Sunday Times said that 10 medals at the 2012 London Olympics were won by athletes with suspicious results, and that in some finals every athlete in the medal positions had recorded a dubious blood test. The IOC has previously stripped medals from athletes who have retroactively been found guilty of doping offences dating back to the time of the games.
The IOC also stores Olympic doping samples for 10 years for possible retesting. "We have full confidence in the inquiry by WADA," Bach said.
"If needed, we will follow suit ... and do everything to protect clean athletes." Bach said he discussed the allegations on Monday with WADA chief Craig Reedie.
"We made it very clear and we agreed that WADA is our competence in the fight against doping and they will inquire into these allegations," Bach said at a news conference at the close of week-long IOC meetings in Kuala Lumpur.
"But at this time, we have nothing more than allegations. We have to respect the presumption of innocence of the athletes. We are looking forward to receiving the report prepared by WADA."
The IAAF and WADA were already investigating accusations made in two previous ARD documentaries of alleged systematic doping and cover-ups in Russia.
The latest ARD program, called Doping Top Secret: The Shadowy World of Athletics, was broadcast three weeks before the world championships in Beijing, which run from August 22-30.
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