WADA Moves Toward Adding Olympic Ban to Code

Audrey ManganJune 5, 2012

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) recently took one step closer to banning guilty athletes from competing in the Olympics following their drug violation — even if his or her regular competition ban ends before the Games.

A new draft of the World Anti-Doping Code (released in clean and marked-up versions) states in Article 10.15, “Limitation on Participation in the Olympic Games,” that when a person has been sanctioned for an anti-doping rule violation, he or she will 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 issue of Olympic bans has frequented the pre-London news cycle this year, as the British Olympic Association (BOA) recently lost its fight with WADA to continue issuing lifetime Olympic bans to drug violators. In a statement following the release of the new Code draft, BOA said the proposed ban is “an important step in the right direction, and it’s moving toward reflecting the higher standard that athletes want to see.”

The draft is the first-round step in WADA’s Code Review Process. The second phase began June 1, a third phase will begin on December 1, and a final draft will go up for approval in November 2013. If approved, the new Code takes effect on January 1, 2015.

Part of WADA’s review process involves taking comments and submissions from concerned stakeholders. Following a first consultation phase that resulted in 91 official submissions and 1366 individual comments, WADA has encouraged its stakeholders to continue making recommendations by way of its online tool WADAConnect.

“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.

“We rely on the experience and assistance of our stakeholders to make the Code as robust and comprehensive as possible, and we again ask for feedback that will help to this effect.”

Audrey Mangan

Audrey Mangan (@audreymangan) is an Associate Editor at FasterSkier and lives in Colorado. She learned to love skiing at home in Western New York.

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