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Sebastian Coe wants four-year ban for failed drugs tests

Last updated on .From the section Athleticscomments89

Sebastian Coe

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe wants the ban for failing a drugs test to be increased from two to four years.

The double Olympic champion's claim comes after sprinters Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell provided positive samples.

Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell
Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell have both won Olympic and World Championship medals

"We have to go back from two years to four years. The move down to two did a lot of damage to my sport," Lord Coe told BBC Radio 5 live's Sportsweek.

"It is for the clean athletes. I don't care about the cheats we weed out. These people are trashing my sport."

While the 1500m gold medallist from Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984 does not believe trust in the sport has completely evaporated, Lord Coe is concerned people are losing faith in athletics.

"It is depressing. Trust sits at the heart of this," said Lord Coe, who is also vice-president of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

"I don't think trust is gone entirely, but it was a bad day for the sport. The big challenge here is to go on fighting, this is not a fight we can afford to lose.

"It is about trust. If fans can't trust the athletes and go there knowing what they are watching is questionable, then we will descend to American wrestling where most of the crowd know it is fake and, worryingly, don't care."

Lord Coe believes that athletes are currently taking risks by cheating as the two-year ban does not take enough time out of their career to be a deterrent.

But the London 2012 organiser and current British Olympic Association chairman knows that lifetime bans are not possible.

The BOA, before Coe was elected chairman, had a policy of banning any British athletes from competing in Olympic Games for life if they had previously failed a drugs test.

However, in April 2012 the governing body lost its battle with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) to keep the policy.

It allowed athletes such as Dwain Chambers, who failed a drugs test in 2003, to compete at London 2012.

"If I could bring lifetime bans in I would," said Lord Coe.

"The legal inhibitor to be able to do that is profound. We are not going to be able to have life bans, they would be challenged and when we have done it we have lost.

"Four years does make people think, it is a big chunk of your career but two years with appeals is often only 18 months. Too many athletes have been prepared to take the risk."

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89 comments

  • Comment posted by Mr Gaib, at 11:46 21 Jul 2013

    The ban should be for life, but, if not at least five years. This would result in the cheaters missing two Olympic Games.

  • Comment posted by User0503117814, at 12:04 21 Jul 2013

    Gay, Powell and a lot of the cheats are multi millionaires so just take their money a=or make it a condition if they are found to have cheated they lose their money.

    A CRIMINAL LOSES HIS MONEY UNER THE PROCEEDS OF CRIME ACT SO SHOULD THE DRUG CHEATS

  • Comment posted by Pip, at 11:47 21 Jul 2013

    Its ludicrous that you can get caught for taking drugs and not even miss one Olympics. 4 years first offence. Life second offence. No exceptions.

  • Comment posted by User0091933353, at 19:56 21 Jul 2013

    Seb Seb Seb....get a grip fella...lifetime bans are the ONLY way forward.
    No more second chances, no more excuses,no more cheats...kick em all out and keep em all out..PERMANENTLY !!!!
    Gatlin,Gay,Chambers,Powell et al...you are all guilty of robbing decent athletes of their moments of glory and potential earnings...
    Cheats always remain cheats..Gatlin the worst of all

  • Comment posted by User0134589534, at 13:17 21 Jul 2013

    How long was Coe's ban for cheating on his wife?

  • Comment posted by User0481424862, at 12:40 21 Jul 2013

    @36

    I'm afraid I disagree - a lifetime ban should be the ONLY possible punishment!

    Certain drugs help an athlete to build muscle which they would not normally be able to develop. These increased muscles can then be exercised and build upon drug-free until any ban finishes, but the fact remains that the athlete is better as a result of taking an illegal substance.

  • Comment posted by Qcumbor, at 17:36 21 Jul 2013

    Life ban for cheating.
    Football won't last 5 minutes then

  • Comment posted by GrandPooBah, at 12:01 21 Jul 2013

    So that Scottish skier that bought a Vicks inhaler in Canada (the canadian formula was different to the safe uk version) was a cheat and should be banned for life? Steroids and blood doping fair enough but oxilofrine is hardly having dianabol and milk for breakfast!

  • Comment posted by Brinsley Schwartz , at 13:23 21 Jul 2013

    @45

    He might well not be, but I refuse to call him lord or baron.

  • Comment posted by The Belly Putter, at 17:17 21 Jul 2013

    People like Gatlin need a life ban. To get caught once is wrong but some people think they can beat the system.

    To get caught twice is despicable and there should be no other alternative than a life ban.

    If Gatlin is running on Friday in London I for one will be loudly booing him.

  • Comment posted by chrisdavis, at 12:34 21 Jul 2013

    Coe on another ego 'trip'?

  • Comment posted by Chris, at 15:58 21 Jul 2013

    It depends on what the "drug" is. At the moment the word "drug" is being used like the word "nice". It can mean a lot of things. Different drugs will have different effects on performance. At one end of the spectrum there may be no effect on performance; a person may just be getting over an ailment and tries to quicken the process. At the other end of the spectrum the punishment should be severe.

  • Comment posted by ynecawla, at 15:13 21 Jul 2013

    If you use steroids for just one cycle, you have a benefit (in the form or extra muscle mass) that lasts for the rest of your life (if you keep training). My sports of Weightlifting and Powerlifting had life bans, but were forced by UK Sport to reduce them to four and then two years. Four years is still to lenient.

  • Comment posted by tony, at 12:08 21 Jul 2013

    We are talking about justice after immoral (rather than illegal) behaviour. Well the business sector have got away with it forever so why pick on athletes?

  • Comment posted by BT, at 11:43 21 Jul 2013

    Alot of people will be getting banned then.

  • Comment posted by Yeahbaby, at 14:04 21 Jul 2013

    Haha, I agree. So only thing is life bans then. But still who's gonna stop someone pumping it for 2/3/4 years and then joining the sport (or any sport) clean. It's unfortunate but in all walks of life, cheaters, liers, thieves etc always somehow end up better off. The root of it all is MONEY. The problem is it is a job not sport. People used to play sport for fun and because they loved doing it

  • Comment posted by kencharman, at 06:23 23 Jul 2013

    Lord Coe has no right to lecture. Doping is a consequence of a society that values celebrity and results above moral and ethical restraint. He was the face of LOCOG - which won the London Olympic bid through misrepresenting the costs as £2.5bn then £4.5bn - when the true cost was somewhere between £9bn and £20bn. Lord Coe stands for the philosophy of the ends justify the means.

  • Comment posted by modharry, at 21:20 22 Jul 2013

    Don't understand why attached to any ban is the clause the offender must miss the next Olympic games even if their ban ends before then.

  • Comment posted by iDominic, at 21:42 21 Jul 2013

    Unfortunately, Lord Coe. you are potentially facing problems with drug taking in Sport along the lines of the Operation Puerto case.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22353145

    Dr Fuentes pretty much said that Spain would have to hand the 2010 Football World Cup back if he named who he had been treating, and - not a surprise - the Judge has ordered all the bags of blood evidence destroyed.

  • Comment posted by Tigre, at 22:00 23 Jul 2013

    The British Olympic Committee should not be allowed to over rule WADA as it makes a mockery of the system having more stringent rules in the UK, sending the message that we are better than the rest of the world. A 2 year ban gives some chance of redemption for the individual, which is more important. Lord Coe appears to be the mob, in mob justice.

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