List of stripped Olympic medals

The following is a list of stripped Olympic medals. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is the governing body that can rule when athletes are in violation of rules in the Olympic Games. The IOC can strip athletes' Olympic honors and request the return of medals. In the case of team events, the IOC can strip medals from a team based on infractions by a single team member. In the table below, for stripped team medals, the athlete in violation is shown in parentheses. The international governing body of each Olympic sport can also strip athletes of medals for infractions of the rules of the sport.

From October 1968 to 5 April 2017, a total of 136 medals have been stripped, and 9 medals medalist vacant after stripped, which the vast majority of these occurring since 2000, due to improved drug testing methods. The majority of medals have been stripped in Athletics (48, including 21 gold medals) and Weightlifting (46, including 13 gold medals). The country which has had the most medals stripped from it is Russia, with 36. The 2008 Summer Olympics had 49 medals stripped, and the 2012 Summer Olympics had 29.

All but three of the stripped medals involve infractions stemming from doping and drug testing. Jim Thorpe was stripped of his two 1912 gold medals based on evidence he had participated in professional sports, but Thorpe's medals were restored in 1982, 29 years after his death, and presented to his children.

Ibragim Samadov of the 1992 Unified Team was stripped of his bronze medal after he "hurled his bronze medal to the floor" and "stormed off the stage during the awards ceremony."Ara Abrahamian was stripped of his bronze medal in 2008 for similar reasons. China was stripped of a team gymnastics bronze medal from 2000 in 2010 after a team member was found to be underage at the time of the competition.

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