IOC president Thomas Bach on Monday vowed "zero tolerance" if Olympic athletics medal results have been tainted by doping revealed by new allegations.
German broadcaster ARD and the Sunday Times newspaper of Britain have alleged that up to a third of medals involving endurance events at world athletics championships and Olympics from 2001 to 2012 were won by competitors who have given suspicious doping tests.
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"If there should be cases involving results at Olympic Games, the IOC will act with zero tolerance with our usual policy," Bach told a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.
"But at this time we have nothing more than allegations and we have to respect the presumption of innocence for the athletes."
He said the IOC would wait for an inquiry by the World Anti-Doping Agency before acting.