A 'significant' number of 'major' names in world athletics will this week be confirmed as historic dopers and be stripped of medals won as long ago as 2005, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.

The development is the result of the long-term pursuit of drug cheats by the International Association of Athletics Federations, and will come just as the world governing body are under fire accused of failing to tackle doping effectively.

It is believed that one of those set to be exposed, as a result of re-testing old samples using new technology, and monitoring of developments over time in athlete blood passports (ABPs), could be double world champion Tatyana Tomashova.

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It is believed that one of those set to be exposed could be double world champion Tatyana Tomashova

The Russian, now 40, won a gold medal in the 1,500 metres in the World Championships of 2003 in Paris and 2005 in Helsinki. She also won an Olympic silver medal over the same distance at the 2004 Games in Athens, behind Great Britain's Kelly Holmes.

Tomashova is due to be competing at the World Championships in Beijing later this month. She was exposed as a cheat in 2008 when IAAF testers managed to prove that she and several colleagues, including fellow 1500m runners Olga Yegorova, Yelena Soboleva and Yuliya Fomenko, had not provided their own urine during drugs tests, presumably to avoid detection.

All four were given bans of two years and nine months in 2008 and had their performance for 15 months prior to 2008 annulled. But it would be a major development if Tomashova were now retrospectively caught — and banned.

Tomashova (right), now 40, won an Olympic 1,500 metre silver medal at Athens 2004, behind Kelly Holmes

'There's going to be a bombshell,' said a source. 'We're talking about big names, multiple names. It's taken time to nail some of these athletes but the message will be clear to all cheats — your past can and will catch up with you.'

It is understood there are no Britons involved in the cases to be announced this week. The timing will no doubt lead to scepticism that athletics' world governing body has been stung into action by recent adverse publicity.

The IAAF were furious last week after claims they have attempted to 'cover up' doping after a German ARD TV documentary and the Sunday Times revealed hundreds of endurance athletes between 2001 and 2012 had recorded blood levels so extreme that they indicated use of the blood-boosting drug EPO or blood doping.

Olga Yegorova did not provide her own urine during drugs tests, presumably to avoid detection

The IAAF insist that the cheats about to be named and shamed have been caught as part of investigative processes that long pre-date last weekend's stories. In a statement referring to the four Russian athletes in the 2005 world final — Tomashova, Yegorova, Soboleva and Formenko — and intended to emphasise their pursuit of dopers registering high blood levels, the IAAF said: 'In July 2015, 10 years after the end of the Helsinki World Championships … the IAAF ordered further re-analyses on the remainder of the urine samples using the most advanced analytical techniques.

'The results of those further re-analyses are expected to be reported imminently and, if need be, the IAAF history books will have to be re-written once again.' IAAF spokesman Nick Davies told the MoS last night: 'We'd never deny a doping problem in athletics. Of course there is.

As there is in other sports. But we in athletics are facing up to that problem. The IAAF wants to stamp out all doping in sport and welcomes greater public debate. There is no perfect system for catching drug cheats, but the IAAF has been at the forefront of drug testing for many years.'

Yelena Soboleva, a 1,500 metre runner, was also exposed as a cheat by the IAAF testers in 2008

The ARD documentary and the Sunday Times reported that more than 800 athletes since 2001, or one in seven at the top level, had returned irregular blood samples, and won 146 medals including 55 golds at world and Olympic events.

The IAAF does not essentially dispute any of this information, and indeed itself yesterday acknowledged that 60 such offending athletes with 140 major medals have been caught on the basis of abnormal blood values. As long ago as 2011, an IAAF report admitted 14 to 20 per cent of athletes were blood doping, and as many as 48 per cent from some 'rogue' nations.

The IAAF's main beef with the recent reports is the accusation of cover-up or negligence, and yesterday wrote to anti-doping experts Michael Ashenden and Robin Parisotto to say they were unhappy that evidence of cheating had been interpreted as evidence of non-action.

Soboleva's fellow Russian Yuliya Fomenko, 35, (right) was also caught out by the authorities

Insiders told the Mail on Sunday that IAAF vice-president's description of Ashenden and Parisotto as 'so-called experts' was 'unfortunate', with one saying: 'Of course they're experts. We know that.'

The re-testing of 2005 samples was only possible because the World Anti-Doping Authority extended its statute of limitations on the testing of stored samples from eight to ten years.

Russia are far from the only doping offenders. The USA, threatened with expulsion from the Olympic movement in 2000 such was the scale of drug taking on their track team, will face questions in Beijing with two-time drug cheat Justin Gatlin heading up their team and tipped to beat Usain Bolt in the men's 100m.