The games were hit by a number of doping scandals before and after the games had commenced. Since seven Russian track and field stars were suspended just before the start of the games for allegedly tampering with their urine samples, only five of the seven who were due to take part in the games could participate. Eleven Greek weightlifters also failed tests in the run up to the games and the entire Bulgarian weightlifting team had to withdraw after eleven of their weightlifters also failed tests. A small number of athletes from other nations also failed pre-games tests. Urine samples taken from the games were reanalyzed in 2016–17 using more advanced technologies that were not available at the time of competition. 61 athletes failed these re-tests, and 50 medals being stripped.