Wada Announces Plan To Lengthen Bans
The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has announced plans to double the length of bans for athletes guilty of using performance enhancing drugs to four years.
Under current regulations, an athlete who is found guilty of doping is banned for two years and banned for life if they test positive for a second time. However, if Wada’s proposal is put into effect, the ban for major doping offences will double starting in 2015.
Wada president John Fahey said of the plans: ‘There is a strong desire to strengthen the sanction articles in the code. This second draft has done that, doubling the length of suspension for serious offenders and widening the scope for anti-doping organisations to impose lifetime bans.’
As of yet there are no new plans to ban doping offenders from competing at the Olympics, Wada spokesman Terence O’ Rorke commented: ‘The rationale is if more four-year sanctions are delivered, then there won’t be any need for [the IOC rule] because the athletes will be missing the next Olympics.’
Wada’s plans will undergo further review before a final proposal is sent for ratification at the World Anti-Doping Conference in Johannesburg in November 2013.
