The ruling from the Court for Arbitration in Sport that the British Olympic Association's lifetime ban on drug cheats must be dropped has opened the door to qualification for London 2012 to several previously ostracised British athletes. Who are they, what realistic chance do they have of pulling on a British vest this summer, and which of their rivals may miss out on selection as a result? please log in to view this image Name: Dwain Chambers Event: Athletics, 100m, 4 x 100m relay Banned for: designer steroid THG The headline case for the ruling, and also the athlete most likely to go straight back into the British team. Name: David Millar Event: Cycling, road race and time-trial Banned for: two years in 2004 after admitting taking blood-booster EPO Millar is the most experienced road racer available to British performance director Dave Brailsford. He was an essential part of the GB squad that took Mark Cavendish to the world road title in Copenhagen last year and retains the backing of his team-mates, not least for his rich understanding of how road races work. Name: Carl Myerscough Event: Athletics, shot put and discus Banned for: two years in 1999 for taking anabolic steroids Myerscough has been the top-ranked British shot putter for seven of the last eight years, and has a personal best almost three metres longer than Scott Rider, the man ranked second last summer.
I'm not condoning drug taking or cheating in sport, but surely once you've been punished, you should be given another chance. Imagine if everything in life was like that? One strike and you're out. Caught speeding? Licence gone. Turned up for work late? Sacked
The point being the rather short 2 year ban only encourages cheating the WDA are lagging behind the BOA on this and need to catch up.
Although I agree with your statement, a lot of folks take the opposite view, calling for life bans. that being the case, we would have no Rio Ferdinand, John Terry and a whole host of others in football.
No chance. If you take performance enhancing drugs while you train you receive an unfair advantage even years later. If you build muscle mass through taking drugs it does not just go away, the effects can last decades especially if you carry on training after taking the drugs. It is completely unfair on other athletes and competitors who have trained clean all their lives. All drug cheats should be banned for life. To be honest the current system does not go far enough, their should be more out of competition random testing. Good set an example, if they want to cheat show them for what they are. No one really knows the long term effects of some of these drugs. How would you like it if in your job someone could take an illegal pill and do the job better meaning ultimately it puts you out of work. That pill might kill you if you take it because you don't know what the side effects will be. Is that a good thing?
Sorry mate, but there's no evidence to support the long-term benefits argument. There's very little work been done, so it's more myth than reality. There's also a problem with some of the banned stuff because much of it is available legally and sold as a supplement. I think Chambers got done for EPO. Apparently there's 50 types of it that aren't banned, so it's a fine line. It's sold as a supplement and is/was probably widely used until banned. As I said, I don't condone, but I do think everyone deserves a second chance.
They aren't going to win jack anyway so can't see the problem, or will they blame the drugs for failing?
Utter Bollox, of course there is an effect. You train on gear you gain muscle, you can recover faster. Your muscles have muscle memory. When you come off the gear you still have the muscle mass gained from being on it. As long as you keep up your training it just does not go away. I don't care what anyone says. I have been powerlifting now for almost 20 years and steriods have a long lasting effect especially on someone who has taken them for a long period of time. If you want to condone cheating then fine but I think a lifetime ban is the only fair way to give clean athletes a level playing field. As for research a quick google shows long term effects found from research:http://www.livestrong.com/article/74744-longterm-effects-steroids/ These are negative long term effects but they are long term, so the postive side is going to be exactly the same.
The problem, IMO, is that an athlete who has worked hard for god knows how many years to get the chance to compete will miss out.
This all day long. Life bans are the only answer and will end up the norm. Otherwise you might as well just let athletes do as they please and get jacked up to the tits. Human greed just spirals if not dealt with. Look at cycling, its become a farce and suffered from cheats being allowed to come back. The desire to find the untraceable drug just increases all the time and the guys are risking their life to push the limits. Bjarne Riise earned the nickname Mr 60% in reference to his high red blood cell count, the big pointer to EPO use. It was seriously dangerous and they reckon his team would have to wake him up in the night to exercise to ensure he didn't just pop it! All three in are a shoe in just about.
I can't really comment on this as I have taken performance enhancing drugs myself. Viagra in my case. Is that even on the banned list?????
