WADA Moves Toward Adding Olympic Ban to Code

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.