Post by ocelot on Aug 6, 2006 17:31:22 GMT -5
IAAF to push for four-year doping bans
Associated Press
8/6/2006 12:27:15 PM
GOTEBORG, Sweden (AP) - Alarmed by the case of Olympic champion Justin Gatlin, the world governing body of athletics wants to reintroduce four-year bans for first-time serious doping offenders.
Calling the Gatlin case a ''disaster for our sport,'' IAAF chief Lamine Diack said the International Association of Athletics Federation was prepared to go alone in imposing four-year bans.
''We want to move in that direction,'' Diack said Sunday, one day before the start of the European Championships. ''It's not a problem for us to go back to four years. We cannot have doping.
''This is the position of the whole IAAF family,'' Diack said, adding that the athletes commission of the federation also supported such a move.
The IAAF originally reduced its four-year bans to two years to have a common anti-doping policy with other sports.
The proposal on longer suspensions will be put before the next congress of the IAAF, in Osaka, Japan, in August 2007, Diack said.
Diack wants the World Anti-Doping Agency to lobby governments to throw their support behind four-year bans.
''We need the support of government and for that we need WADA,'' he said.
Athletics had four-year bans from 1991-95.
The world anti-doping code, signed by most major sports federations, provides for two-year bans for first-time doping offenders.
The four-year bans would be valid for serious offences, such as taking performance-boosting steroids and blood doping, while penalties for stimulants would remain less severe.
''If other federations go along, they are welcome. If not, we'll go it alone,'' said Helmut Digel, a German vice president of the IAAF's policy-setting council.
''The athletes don't take two years seriously, but four years is much more of a deterrent,'' Digel said.
The Gatlin case was ''very bad publicity'' for our athletics, Diack said.
''We are facing a difficult situation,'' he said. ''Our sponsors and television have to know that we are serious about this doping problem.''
Gatlin, the Olympic and world 100-metre champion, will get a lifetime ban from the sport's international governing body if he is found guilty of doping.
He disclosed last month that he tested positive for testosterone or other prohibited steroids after a relay race in Kansas in April.
If his test is confirmed, it would be Gatlin's second offence, and would mean a lifetime ban from the sport. While in college, the American tested positive for a banned substance contained in Adderall, which he took to calm attention deficit disorder.
He was given a two-year ban in international competition after the first infraction, but it was later reduced to one year.
Gatlin said he will co-operate with USADA ''and hope that when all the facts are revealed it will be determined that I have done nothing wrong.''
''I cannot account for these results, because I have never knowingly used any banned substance or authorized anyone else to administer such a substance to me,'' Gatlin said.
Gatlin tied Jamaica's Asafa Powell in May for the world record in the 100 at 9.77 seconds, but he would lose the record if proven guilty of doping.
Associated Press
8/6/2006 12:27:15 PM
GOTEBORG, Sweden (AP) - Alarmed by the case of Olympic champion Justin Gatlin, the world governing body of athletics wants to reintroduce four-year bans for first-time serious doping offenders.
Calling the Gatlin case a ''disaster for our sport,'' IAAF chief Lamine Diack said the International Association of Athletics Federation was prepared to go alone in imposing four-year bans.
''We want to move in that direction,'' Diack said Sunday, one day before the start of the European Championships. ''It's not a problem for us to go back to four years. We cannot have doping.
''This is the position of the whole IAAF family,'' Diack said, adding that the athletes commission of the federation also supported such a move.
The IAAF originally reduced its four-year bans to two years to have a common anti-doping policy with other sports.
The proposal on longer suspensions will be put before the next congress of the IAAF, in Osaka, Japan, in August 2007, Diack said.
Diack wants the World Anti-Doping Agency to lobby governments to throw their support behind four-year bans.
''We need the support of government and for that we need WADA,'' he said.
Athletics had four-year bans from 1991-95.
The world anti-doping code, signed by most major sports federations, provides for two-year bans for first-time doping offenders.
The four-year bans would be valid for serious offences, such as taking performance-boosting steroids and blood doping, while penalties for stimulants would remain less severe.
''If other federations go along, they are welcome. If not, we'll go it alone,'' said Helmut Digel, a German vice president of the IAAF's policy-setting council.
''The athletes don't take two years seriously, but four years is much more of a deterrent,'' Digel said.
The Gatlin case was ''very bad publicity'' for our athletics, Diack said.
''We are facing a difficult situation,'' he said. ''Our sponsors and television have to know that we are serious about this doping problem.''
Gatlin, the Olympic and world 100-metre champion, will get a lifetime ban from the sport's international governing body if he is found guilty of doping.
He disclosed last month that he tested positive for testosterone or other prohibited steroids after a relay race in Kansas in April.
If his test is confirmed, it would be Gatlin's second offence, and would mean a lifetime ban from the sport. While in college, the American tested positive for a banned substance contained in Adderall, which he took to calm attention deficit disorder.
He was given a two-year ban in international competition after the first infraction, but it was later reduced to one year.
Gatlin said he will co-operate with USADA ''and hope that when all the facts are revealed it will be determined that I have done nothing wrong.''
''I cannot account for these results, because I have never knowingly used any banned substance or authorized anyone else to administer such a substance to me,'' Gatlin said.
Gatlin tied Jamaica's Asafa Powell in May for the world record in the 100 at 9.77 seconds, but he would lose the record if proven guilty of doping.