Banned Britons consider future as CAS confirms LaShawn Merritt victory in drugs test case

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The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled the IOC law banning convicted drugs cheats from competing in the Olympics even after their initial bans have expired is “invalid and unenforceable”.
As revealed exclusively by Telegraph Sport the CAS judgement means that reigning Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt is free to defend his title in London next summer, and potentially opens the way for Dwain Chambers and David Millar to challenge their life bans from the Games.

The Britons are banned under a British Olympic Association bylaw that issues life bans for anyone who has received a ban of six months or more for doping. The CAS ruling could fundamentally undermine that rule.

In a statement this morning CAS said: "The IOC Executive Board’s June 27, 2008 decision prohibiting athletes who have been suspended for more than six months for an anti-doping rule violation from participating in the next Olympic Games following the expiration of their suspension is invalid and unenforceable."

CAS ruled that because the law effectively extended bans handed down properly under the WADA code it undermined the IOC’s own commitment to WADA and was in effect a breach of its own statutes.

CAS said the IOCs rule was "not in compliance with Article 23.2.2 of the World Anti-Doping Code (WADAC) which provides the signatories of the code may not introduce provisions that change the effects of periods of doping sanction after that sanction has been served."
The three-member CAS panel proposed that the IOC should seek to incorporate the rule into the next iteration of the WADA code.

The IOC said that while it was disappointed by the ruling it accepted CAS’s judgement and would now press to enhance the WADA code to ensure that convicted cheats face stiff penalties.

In a statement, the IOC said: “The IOC fully respects the Court of Arbitration for Sport and will of course abide by its judgement. The IOC has a zero-tolerance against doping and has shown and continues to show its determination to catch cheats.
“We are therefore naturally disappointed since the measure was originally adopted to support the values that underpin the Olympic Movement and to protect the huge majority of athletes who compete fairly.

"The rule was in our view an efficient means to advance the fight against doping, and we were somewhat surprised by the judgement since we had taken an advisory opinion from CAS on the rule and been given a positive response.

“When the moment comes for the revision of the World Anti-Doping Code we will ensure that tougher sanctions, including such a rule, will be seriously considered. We are therefore naturally disappointed since the measure was originally adopted to support the values that underpin the Olympic Movement and to protect the huge majority of athletes who compete fairly.

Chambers will digest and consider the full details of the CAS judgement on LaShawn Merritt before deciding whether to launch an attempt to compete in London 2012, his advisors have told the Daily Telegraph.

Millar, part of the British cycling team that swept Mark Cavendish to World Championship gold last month, has already indicated that he is reluctant to mount an appeal despite being a vocal supporter of the principle of redemption and giving drugs cheats a second chance. However, he Tweeted on news of the announcement:

"CAS ruling on IOC Rule 45 a good thing for future of international sport. Only a matter of time till all countries respect WADA Code.

"For all those calling and messaging me. Allow me to digest it, then I'll write something down later this evening (Beijing time). *Thinking*"

The BOA is also expected to respond later today, but UK Anti-Doping chief executive Andy Parkinson said:

“UK Anti-Doping’s position is well known on such matters. We believe it is appropriate that the decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport strongly supports the authority of the World Anti-Doping Code, the internationally agreed set of rules.

“The global fight against doping in sport is a complex task and this ruling provides clarity for the sporting movement in the lead up to 2012.”

Who might follow Merritt’s lead?

Dwain Chambers
Age 33
Sport: Athletics, 100m
Honours: Numerous international medals stretching back to 1998, including 60m gold at 2010 World Indoor Championships. Current UK 100m champion.
Drug offence: Banned for two years in 2003 for designer anabolic steroid THG. Did not challenge BOA bylaw through the BOA’s appeals procedure but tried unsuccessfully to obtain a High Court injunction against the rule in 2008.

Carl Myerscough
Age 32
Sport: Athletics, shot put & discus
Honours: British record-holder in shot put and former world junior bronze medallist. Has represented GB at four World Championships but has yet to win a senior international medal.
Drug offence: Banned for two years after testing positive in 1999 for a cocktail of performance-enhancing substances. Appealed unsuccessfully against the BOA bylaw in 2004.

David Millar
Age 34
Sport: Cycling, road race & time-trial
Honours: Four Tour de France stage wins, including the prologue. Two-time world time-trial silver medallist and reigning Commonwealth time-trial champion.
Drug offence: Banned for two years in 2004 and stripped of his 2003 world time-trial title after admitting taking the blood-booster EPO. Has never appealed against the BOA bylaw.

Telegraph.co.uk

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Olympics Minister backs Team GB officials over Games selection

OLYMPIC minister Hugh Robertson has backed the British Olympic Association to reserve the right to select whoever they like for next year's London 2012 Games.

For over 20 years Team GB have maintained a unique bye-law which prevents any athlete convicted of a doping offence from competing or officiating in their colours at the Olympics.

But the Court of Arbitration in Sport have ruled that the International Olympic Committee's softer position, known as rule 45, which banned athletes from the next Games following a positive test, was 'unenforceable'.

Some experts believe that opens up the BOA to legal challenge, with sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar among those currently not under consideration for the London team because of their past suspensions.

"I have always supported the BOA over this, it’s not just the government that support it, 95 percent of athletes support it as well," said Robertson, during a visit to the Leaders in Football conference at Stamford Bridge.

"Every athlete I have spoken over the summer are absolutely behind it.

DAVID MILLAR REACTION

We no longer live in a sporting world where we are governed independently by regional or national bodies, sport is now competed on an international stage bigger than ever before and for that reason needs to be governed by international all-encompassing rules.
We have a code that exists in world sport, it is called the WADA Code, it is constantly being revised in order to stay up to date with the latest anti-doping and judiciary developments.
The WADA code sets the standard in sport and it is one that all national governing bodies should operate under. Each time those athletes step into competition they need to know that everybody they compete against is held accountable to one code.
Every doping case is different, as is every human being, we must not forget this. We expect fairness to be an integral part of the sports we watch, and yet fairness can be hard to find in the punishments of those athletes who make mistakes. 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."

"Personally I'm not particularly comfortable with the idea of Merritt running but then I'm a bit of hardliner when it comes to these things, I just can’t influence the regulations."

Millar and Chambers have so far remained coy about whether they'd mount their own challenge, although BOA chairman Colin Moynihan insists his organisation are in the right, both legally and morally, pointing to a letter from the World Anti-Doping Agency in 2009 that confirmed they were in full compliance of the binding World Anti-Doping Code.

Moynihan is now requesting confirmation from IOC headquarters in Lausanne that the CAS decision in no way impacts the autonomy and ability of individual national Olympic committees to determine eligibility standards for athletes and coaches.

Five-time Olympic champion Sir Steve Redgrave, Britain's most successful Olympian, went even further - suggesting other countries should adopt the same hardline approach over selections.

"Any athlete who knowingly cheats has potentially prevented clean athletes from having the chance to fulfil their Olympic ambitions," he said.

"I will always believe that that is wrong and unacceptable.

"It is for these reasons that I hope the BOA’s bye-law will still be in place for the next 100 years so that when we have the privilege again of hosting the Olympic Games, we do so against a backdrop that Team GB and British sport is committed and determined to lead the fight against doping in sport.”

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