Revised WADA code to include Olympic ban

A first draft of WADA’s revised anti-doping code has been published. A proposed rule change means that athletes caught doping will be excluded from the next Olympic event taking place after the end of the original suspension.

Recently, the British Olympic Association (BOA) lost its battle against the World Anti-Doping Agency to keep its lifetime ban for doping cheats in the Court of Arbitration for Sport. To this new provision to the WADA code, a BOA spokesman said "That's an important step in the right direction, and it's moving toward reflecting the higher standard that athletes want to see," writes BBC Sport. 

The new rule states that where an athlete or other person has been sanctioned for a serious anti-doping rule violation, “then, as an additional sanction, the athlete or other person shall be ineligible to participate in the next Summer Olympic Games and the next Winter Olympic Games taking place after the end of the period of ineligibility otherwise imposed." 

The rule change is a part of a series of revisions of the anti-doping code which will be introduced to sports governing bodies and governments before its final approval in November 2013. The revised code will be introduced in 2015.

“The World Anti-Doping Code represents the needs and wishes of the world’s anti-doping community, and the Review Process is designed to allow all those with a vested interest to play an active part,” said WADA President John Fahey on WADA’s website.

See the Draft of the revised Code (Version 1.0) here.

See WADA's statement regarding the revised code here.

Source: BBC Sport, WADA

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/olympics/18303702

http://playtrue.wada-ama.org/news/revised-code-published-as-second-consultation-phase-starts/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=revised-code-published-as-second-consultation-phase-starts

http://www.wada-ama.org/Documents/World_Anti-Doping_Program/WADP-The-Code/Code_Review/Code%20Review%202015/Code-Draft-1.0/WADA-Code-2015-Draft-1.0-EN.pdf