Olympic Games in the opening ceremony. Though the flame has been an Olympic symbol since 1928, the torch relay was only introduced at the 1936 Summer Games to promote the Third Reich. The Olympic mascot, an animal or human figure representing the cultural heritage of the host country, was introduced in 1968. It has played an important part of the Games' identity promotion since the 1980 Summer Olympics, when the Russian bear cub Misha reached international stardom. The mascot of the Summer Olympics in London was named Wenlock after the town of Much Wenlock in Shropshire. Much Wenlock still hosts the Wenlock
Doping at the Olympic Games effort to detect banned substances and recent blood transfusions. While several athletes were barred from competition by their National Olympic Committees prior to the Games, six athletes failed drug tests while in competition in Beijing. What follows is a list of all the athletes that have tested positive for a banned substance either during or after an Olympic Games in which they competed. Any medals listed were revoked by the International Olympic Commission (IOC). In 1967 the IOC banned the use of performance-enhancing drugs, instituted a Medical Commission, and created a list of banned substances. Mandatory testing began at the