Athletes banned until 2020 can
compete at Olympics: Athletics Integrity head
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[April 18, 2020]
(Reuters) - The postponement of
the Tokyo Olympics will allow athletes banned until 2020 to qualify
for the Games next year as doping bans are based on time periods and
not events, Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) head Brett Clothier told
Reuters.
Last month, the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese
government agreed to postpone the Tokyo Games, due to start in July,
to 2021 because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic that has
killed over 150,000 people worldwide.
World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) bans are designed to prevent
athletes from competing during an Olympic cycle and Clothier said
stopping athletes whose bans expire this year from competing in 2021
would lead to legal complications.
"The standard penalty under the WADA code for doping is a four-year
ban," Clothier said. "And that's been designed that way to tie in
with the Olympic cycle.
"But in this case, of course, it's an anomaly that the Olympics have
moved so some athletes will benefit from that.
"It's an unfortunate situation but one that is very clear under the
legal framework so the ban is based on time and not tied to
particular events."
The anomaly could prove to be a double-edged sword, however, with
Clothier saying athletes caught after August this year would be
banned for two Olympic Games -- in Tokyo and Paris -- since they
fall within the four-year sanction range.
But with social distancing protocols and lockdowns in place in
several countries, Clothier said the biggest impact the pandemic has
had on anti-doping agencies is the lack of regular testing.
"The restrictions on movement that are happening in many countries
are having a severe disruption to testing processes around the
world," he said.
"We do testing for over a 100 countries round the world and there
are different restrictions in each country... and those restrictions
are changing day-to-day, week-to-week.
"So our normal testing operations are disrupted. We are still
conducting testing where we can but there is a severe disruption, no
question."
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A passerby wearing a protective face mask following an outbreak of
the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) walks past a screen displaying
logos of Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Japan
March 19, 2020. REUTERS/Issei Kato
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) said a new
self-administered doping test, where athletes are monitored live by
a doping control officer, could help protect clean athletes, as the
agency tries to ensure no one gets a "free pass" from reduced
testing during the pandemic.
Clothier said that though current testing limitations give dopers an
opportunity to cheat, agencies should be proactive in identifying
athletes prone to cheating while also cracking down on the root
causes of doping.
"One thing that needs to be understood though is testing for us
isn't just a numbers game," he added. "We use intelligence and
investigation methodologies to make sure we are testing the right
athletes we need to at the right time.
"While our testing activities are reduced at the moment, we are
focusing on our priority and high-risk athletes and making sure we
can test them as much as possible within the limitations we have.
"We're hoping that we'll see change around the anti-doping world...
where more organizations invest in intelligence capabilities so that
they can address the root causes of doping and the people behind
doping rather than just using the tests as a facade or a numbers
game."
(Reporting by Matt Gooderick in London, Writing by Rohith Nair and
Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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