Court for Arbitration in Sport - ruling

[#1]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tomfordyce/2012/04/back_in_the_fold.html
right or wrong decision.
IMO drugs in any form is a life time ban at any level of sport, not just the olympics.

[#2]

In as much as a life sentence is a life sentence...

[#3]

[quote=comment in the BBC link]It is a shame that these cheats could stand a chance at representing the country. These people had their chance and they ruined it. Give the young athletes a chance before these guys. Sure they might not be as good but at least we can be proud of them.
I agree with that sentiment.

[#4]

It's a tough one really, when we let a person out of prison after serving their sentence we're done with their punishment and they have earned their freedom, the same with athletes, they completed their punishment so can we really continue to punish them for the rest of their athletic career?
On the other hand, when we release people from prison some jobs are automatically prohibited, can't have (for instance) a sex offender becoming a teacher, it's not punishment for their crime but it's protection.  The athletes in question have shown that the pressure to win got to them so much that they felt cheating would be the best option, whose to say that putting them back in a situation where winning a medal is the ultimate goal of every athlete (Olympics being the big one, biggest one even) won't make them want to try and cheat the system again?
But if we go down that route, we're punishing people based on stuff they may not do, which is very un-British, but it's also very British (outside the football pitch) to practise fair play.
So, there is no easy answer, if they do manage to compete in the Olympics then they should have mandatory drug testing before selection, after selection and during the games rather than just random testing.

[#5]

They could have done it an easier way,  rather than banning them for life,  how about for 5 games.  That seems like a reasonable punishment, with the side effect that it has the same practical effect. 

[#6]

It's not always black or white. Alain Baxter was stripped of his alpine ski Olympic medal for failing a drug test because he used an American sourced Vicks. Should he also be given an Olympic life time ban?

[#7]

Quote from: David

So, there is no easy answer, if they do manage to compete in the Olympics then they should have mandatory drug testing before selection, after selection and during the games rather than just random testing.

In the case in question, I would guess the particular athlete will be unable to scratch his nose without falling under suspicion. If selected (he hasn't been yet) he's going to need a pretty thick skin to ignore the comments from the public and his fellow competitors.

[#8]

Believe all medal winners are tested and top athletes will be tested several times during the year.
Most of the old type of body building drugs are easy to detect it's the modern EPO type of drugs and blood doping  that are very hard detect. Did Lasse Virén blood dope?

[#9]

If an athlete takes drugs and builds up his physique as a result will he still be benefiting from that years later? If so the ban should be lifelong.

[#10]

Believe most of the drugs that would aid training are easy to detect. It's the performance doping close to the event that are harder to detect. This is normally in the form of increasing the red blood cells.

[#11]

I believe life should mean life as otherwise it can give out the wrong message to aspiring young athletes.
I accept there will be 'collateral damage' but to help there the technology involved in the testing must be to the highest possible standard....and applied worldwide.

[#12]

Life time ban if they can prove intent to cheat, it's no good just to have small levels of a banned substances.
Alberto Contador is an example of this.

Quote

However, the UCI said the concentration found by the laboratory was estimated at 50 picograms - 400 times less than anti-doping laboratories accredited by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) must be able to detect.

The cycling governing body UCI cleared him but CAS appealed and he was given a 2 year ban. Should this be life?

[#13]

Unfortunate example with cycling. Cycling has been riven with performance enhancing substances for many years. It also at times seems to have tacit acceptance from its governing bodies. At least with road racing, indoor track racing seems to be better policed.

[#14]

How many of GB track team ride on the road? 2 of the Men Team Pursuit ( Thomas and Kennaugh) that won Gold and set a World record last month will be riding in the Giro starting next week with Mark Cavendish. And Swift is also in the team who won the Gold in the Scratch Race and with Thomas a silver in the Madison.
And not forgetting Wiggins that won Golds in the Olympics on the track but is focusing this year to win the yellow jersey at the Tour of France.