Sunday 9 October 2011

Coe joins call for life ban on drug cheats


LONDON: London 2012 chairman Lord Coe on Friday called for a zero tolerance policy towards drugs cheats a day after US 400m Olympic champion LaShawn Merritt’s ban against competing in next year’s Games was overturned.


Merritt won a case in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after challenging the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) controversial rule which states that anyone banned for doping for sixth months or more should miss the next Olympics.


“I am unreconstructed on this — I would have a life ban,” said Coe.


Merritt, 25, was banned for 21 months in October 2010 after testing positive for the anabolic steroid DHEA in three tests between October 2009 and January 2010.British athletes, including cyclist David Millar and sprinter Dwain Chambers, may take hope of potentially being part of Team GB next year after having both served bans for drugs in the past.


Swimmer Mark Foster, a six-times world champion who represented Britain at five Olympics, believes there should be “a lifetime ban from any sport, not just the Olympics” for drugs cheats.


“If you cheat you cannot go to the Olympics — that is a deterrent. I think there should be no tolerance,” he said.

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