POSTED: January 17th 2011

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JOHN GOODBODY: Time for IOC to stand firm against dope ban compromise

THE JOHN GOODBODY COLUMN / An authoritative and exclusive series from Sports Features Communications

LONDON, Jan 17: The International Olympic Committee is beginning to flex its muscles over drugs and it is surely morally right to do so.  The question is whether legally the IOC can hold its line. And that line may well be tested in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics.

The issue is whether LaShawn Merritt, the American who is Olympic and world 400 metres champion, will be able to run in the London Games.

In June 2008, the IOC stated that “any person who has been sanctioned with a suspension of more than six months by an anti-doping organisation for any violation of any anti-doping regulations may not participate . . . in the next edition of the Games . . . following the date of expiry of such suspension.”

Merritt is under suspension for 21 months for taking DHEA, a banned  substance. He claims that this drug was contained in ExtenZe, a substance to help him “last longer and stay firmer . . . with his lady friend,” which he bought in a local shop.

His excuse was accepted by the American Arbitration Association  (AAA) and the original ban was reduced by three months from the statutory 24. This conveniently would allow him to compete in the 2011 World Championships.

However, he is not eligible to compete in the Olympics and this general ruling of the IOC has been criticised by the AAA which regards it as an additional punishment and so contrary to the Code of the World Anti-Doping Agency, the organisation originally set up by the IOC in 1999.

Last week, the German Thomas Bach, an IOC vice-president and the front-runner to succeed Dr Jacques Rogge as president, reiterated  the validity of the IOC’s stance. He said: "The rule stands. The IOC has the right to put in conditions for participants. This is one of those conditions. It is not a sanction but an issue of eligibility.”

The Americans rejected that with Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the United States Anti-Doping Agency saying that it “goes beyond the WADA code."

Advisory opinion

However, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland has given an advisory opinion confirming the IOC’s stance. The AAA  has opposed that view saying that it is “mere skulduggery."

So don’t think for a second that the issue will remain there because Merritt (or someone else) will challenge the IOC in court. And the IOC will then be able to point out that this is not some rule of eligibility that officials have dreamed up but what the athletes themselves have demanded. And rightly.

Frankie Fredericks, the former Olympic medal-winning sprinter, also supported the bylaw of the British Olympic Association which states that any competitor found guilty of a serious drugs offence (one with a sanction of at least six months) can never represent the country again in the Games.

This is what prevented Dwain Chambers, the former European 100 metres champion, who had previously been banned for two months, from running in Beijing. However, Chambers’s High Court challenge in July 2008 was not successful, although he was seeking an injunction at a late stage, pending a full trial.

The judge, Mr Justice Mackay, did not find a sufficiently strong case had been presented for the injunction to be upheld but added that it was “not impossible” that a trial might see the appeal differently.

Will Chambers try again over the next 18 months? Possibly but that depends on whether he thinks he would get in the team and also whether someone would fund his challenge. For clarity’s sake, it might be a good idea if someone did, so that the issues behind the cases of both Merritt and Chambers could be settled.

** JOHN GOODBODY covered the 2008 Olympics for The Sunday Times, his 11th successive Summer Games and is the author of the audio book A History of the Olympics, read by Barry Davies, the BBC commentator. He was Sports News Correspondent of The Times 1986-2007, for whom he received journalistic awards in all three decades on the paper, including Sports Reporter of The Year in 2001

Keywords · Goodbody · WADA · Merritt · Chambers · dope tests

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