October 6/11 15:45 pm - CAS Removes Lifetime Olympic Ban for Doping

Posted by Editoress on 10/6/11
 

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has tossed out an IOC regulation that made it impossible for athletes to compete in the Olympic Games following a doping sanction, if their sanction was six months or longer.  The CAS said in their decision that athletes were being sanctioned twice by the rule - once with a competition ban for the infraction and a second time with a ban against entering the Olympic Games.

Among those now eligible to compete is British cyclist David Millar, who was banned for life under a similar regulation enacted by the British Olympic federation.  Millar said, in a startement following the ruling:

"A lifetime ban for a first offence does not encourage rehabilitation nor education, two things that are necessary for the future prevention of doping in sport. I hope this decision will pave the way for the development of global sports, and to creating a system that all athletes and sports fans can understand and believe in."

The IOC says that it will work to revise the WADA anti-doping code in 2013 to establish regulations that will have the same effect as the now dircredited rule.