Tougher bans for doping cheats approved by WADA
WADA also unanimously elected IOC vice president Craig Reedie of Britain as the next president.
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - Serious doping cheats will be banned for four years from 2015, ensuring they miss at least one Olympics.
The World Anti-Doping Agency also passed a rule Friday that offered athletes possible immunity from punishment in return for "substantial" information on doping.
"I guess it s founded on the question: If you can bring about a greater good with the cooperation you give, then there ought to be some encouragement for you," outgoing World Anti-Doping Agency President John Fahey said.
The doubling of bans from two years to four was one of the proposals adopted by WADA and added to the World Anti-Doping Code on the final day of the World Conference on Doping in Sport.
WADA also unanimously elected IOC vice president Craig Reedie of Britain as the next president on a two-year term from Jan. 1. He was the only candidate. Makhenkesi Stofile of South Africa was elected vice president, also unopposed.
The move to toughen up bans, seen as the most obvious new deterrent, was joined by a clause in the code that will allow athletes to have no sanction if their information on doping is valuable enough. It s seen to apply, especially, to cycling s planned inquiry into its doping past.
Fahey said it would be judged on a case-by-case basis and "dealt with in the most conscientious way." The principle will only apply to current cyclists, not banned American rider Lance Armstrong.
Also added to the revised code were stronger powers for anti-doping authorities to punish coaches and trainers who help athletes dope, and more emphasis on investigations away from drug tests to catch cheats. Another key change is WADA s ability to tell sports which illegal substances they should be testing for.
The code will come into effect on Jan. 1, 2015, in time for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
"This is a good day for sport," Fahey said. "We must turn those words, those intentions, into action." The new rules come with ongoing criticism that WADA, with a relatively small budget, is not effective in catching cheats, underlined by its own report this year that found drug testing had been generally unsuccessful in recent years.
Away from the code, WADA also made progress on two key behind-the-scenes issues at the four-day conference.
WADA and the International Cycling Union agreed to set up the independent commission of inquiry into the sport s drug-stained past, and a report from an audit of Jamaica s troubled drug-testing program has now made nine recommendations to the Caribbean island s sports minister, Natalie Neita-Headley.
"WADA is satisfied that the minister has accepted the practical suggestions it made and now looks forward to their full implementation in the coming weeks," WADA said.
Sports or countries deemed not compliant with WADA rules can be thrown out of the Olympics, and this week s conference was attended by International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.
Kenya has set up a government inquiry into allegations of widespread doping in its famous high-altitude training bases, WADA director general David Howman said, and it will submit a report within three months. But Howman said WADA had "no information" on the remit of the commission, raising concerns over its effectiveness.
And a disciplinary committee has been held in Johannesburg over problems at the Moscow doping laboratory, raising fears of issues for drug testing at the Sochi Winter Olympics.
While the tougher four-year bans had widespread approval, including from FIFA, the focus on intelligence gathering and investigations away from testing of urine and blood samples may be a more important new tool.
Many of the most significant recent breakthroughs to catch high-profile dopers, including Armstrong, the BALCO scandal in the United States and Spain s Operation Puerto have come through investigations and not analytical tests.
Armstrong was banned for life in 2012 and stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after an extensive investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency. He was implicated and punished despite never failing a doping test.
"Investigations, in particular, are seen as essential if we are to do what we must do as effectively as we can," Fahey said.
WADA also strengthened its powers to punish "athlete support personnel," the trainers, coaches and officials that assist in doping. Previously, coaches and officials were not subject to the same anti-doping rules as athletes.
The amendment concerning "smart menus" allows WADA to tell sports federations to test for substances "most likely to be abused" by athletes in their sports.
WADA has been working on the changes to its international anti-doping rules, which are the first update since 2009, in a two-year process involving athletes, sports federations, anti-doping bodies and governments. There were more than 2,000 proposed clause changes for the new code, 145 meetings with stakeholders and 18 code drafting sessions, WADA said.
