Jacques Rogge, the chairman of the International Olympic Committee, which has a statute of limitations on results of eight years, said that the urine and blood samples taken from competitors in Beijing can be repeatedly tested until 2016 as scientists develop new methods of analysis.
The process has already started, with 5,000 samples shipped from Beijing to Lausanne so that they can be tested for Continuous Erythropoiesis Receptor Activator, or Cera, a new generation of the blood-booster drug, EPO discovered recently in the urine of cyclists on this summer's Tour de France.
Rogge said: "This is the first stage of retroactive testing.
"We are going to keep, to preserve the urine and the blood for eight years.
"If, for example, we have a new chance to test next year or within two years because science can teach us that you can test for one substance or another which you cannot test for now, we will do that in the future.
"The Beijing Games will only be completely closed in eight years' time."
A rash of positive drug tests in the months leading up to the Beijing Games led many experts to predict that the Olympics would prove to be one of the dirtiest.
Even Rogge admitted that he expected the Games to produce around 40 failed drug tests.
In the event, only six athletes were disqualified from the Olympics because of doping offences. Three other cases are pending.
There is now a general expectation that the new tests will uncover more cheats.
Rogge added: "Anything is possible. We do not know but it is possible, yes."
Drug testing during the Olympics was extensive but concerns remain about what athletes in many countries get up to during the winter, when they are not competing.
In Britain, for example, the testing regime demands that athletes inform UK Sport of their whereabouts for an hour a day, five days a week.
A report by independent observers for the World Anti-Doping Agency highlighted the fact that nearly half the countries that participated in the Beijing Games failed to tell organisers where their athletes were so they could be drug tested outside of competition.
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