The International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) suspended as many as 28 track-and-field athletes on Tuesday, after their blood samples were retested.

The world athletics governing body has also stated that none of the 28 athletes mentioned in the list will be eligible to compete in the Athletics World Championship in Beijing later this month.

Their blood samples taken from the 2005 and 2007 World Championships -- held in Helsinki, Finland, and Osaka, Japan, respectively -- were retested.

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The names of the athletes, however, haven't been released due to the continuing legal process, and it is expected that many more names might crop up in the next few days.

"A large majority of the 28 are retired, some are athletes who have already been sanctioned, and only very few remain active in sport," the IAAF said in a statement.

"The IAAF is provisionally suspending them and can confirm none of the athletes concerned will be competing at the world championships in Beijing."

The World Championships in Beijing run from 22 to 30 August this year, with the Beijing National Stadium being the venue.

The IAAF further stated that they are committed to keep the sport neat and clean, and they are not willing to tolerate any "cheats" in the game.

"The IAAF embarked on this long-term storage and retesting strategy in 2005 to ensure that clean athletes are ultimately rewarded for their honest efforts in IAAF competitions," the release added.

"The IAAF is committed to use every means at its disposal within the World Anti-Doping Code to root out the cheats, however long it takes."

British daily The Sunday Times recently mentioned that the results of 12,000 blood tests taken from of as many as 5,000 athletes, from 2001 through 2012, revealed excessive cheating, even at some of the world's biggest events like the London Marathon.

Citing the example of the London Marathon, the newspaper stated that the event was won by as many as seven athletes with suspicious blood results in the last 12 years.