WADA to adopt new code
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Drawing hard lessons from the Lance Armstrong scandal, global anti-doping authorities are set to move into a new era with tougher sanctions, smarter testing and a new leader.
The World Anti-Doping Agency is also pushing to catch drug cheats by pursuing investigations and gathering intelligence — rather than relying on the blood and urine samples, which proved so unsuccessful with Armstrong, a serial doper who never failed a test.
A series of proposed changes to the World Anti-Doping Code will be voted on at the World Conference on Doping in Sport, to be held next Tuesday to Friday in Johannesburg.
The revised code will take effect on January 1, 2015 — in time for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
In the most obvious deterrent, WADA is proposing to double the standard ban for serious doping offences from two years to four years, meaning cheaters would miss at least one Olympics.
The move appears to have widespread approval. While current rules allow for four-year bans in aggravated cases, the longer sanctions are rarely enforced and most federations keep to the standard two-year penalty.
A previous IOC rule that banned dopers from the next Olympics was ruled invalid by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, so WADA consulted a judge at the Court of Human Rights to make sure the latest four-year proposal would stand up to legal challenges.
WADA is also re-examining testing procedures, placing more importance on police-style investigations and extending the reach of anti-doping agencies to give harsher punishments to the coaches and trainers, the so-called “athlete entourage” that assists in doping — all factors in Armstrong’s case.
WADA also proposes lengthening the statute of limitations in doping cases from eight to 10 years. That would allow the storage and re-testing of samples for up to a decade.
With these changes being considered, WADA will elect a new president. Craig Reedie, an International Olympic Committee vice-president from Britain, is the only candidate. He is set to succeed former Australian government minister John Fahey as WADA president, taking over on January 1, 2014.