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Life bans urged as drugs row overshadows Rio Games
An IOC spokesman warned that lifetime bans from the Games were fraught with legal difficulty, signalling they may be hard to push through.
Rio de Janeiro: Olympics officials promised to push for life bans for dope cheats on Tuesday, echoing calls from Michael Phelps and Michael Johnson as a bitter drugs row engulfed the Rio Games.
After Phelps said he was angry that convicted dopers were allowed to compete, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) said its president Thomas Bach backed lifetime suspensions from the Games.
Earlier, boos had rained on tainted Russian swimmer Yulia Efimova, who was also slammed by America’s Lilly King in a spat which echoed the Cold War rivalry.
But an IOC spokesman warned that lifetime bans from the Games were fraught with legal difficulty, signalling they may be hard to push through.
“The president said that for serious doping issues, he would still really like to see a life ban,” said IOC spokesman Mark Adams.
“There are a number of options we can look at that would certainly I would imagine be one of them but this is all very much within a very difficult legal framework.
“It is something that the president is very keen on and it appears that the public is very keen on it is just a matter of finding a way that is legally sound.”
That may not be enough to appease an increasingly restive cohort of athletes who have complained loudly about having dope-tainted competitors in Rio.
Track legend Johnson echoed Phelps on Tuesday when he said that athletes with a record of doping should be shut out of the Olympics.
“I would love them to say that an athlete with even only one ban or one doping offence should miss an Olympics,” said the 1996 Olympics 400m and 200m champion.
After beating Efimova in the 100m breaststroke, King lashed out at the Russians but she also said drug-tainted Americans, like sprinter Justin Gatlin, should not be allowed to compete.
“Do I think people who have been caught for doping offenses should be on the team? No, they shouldn’t,” said the 19-year-old.
Phelps gave his heavyweight support to his young teammate.
“You’re probably going to see a lot of people speaking up more. I think something needs to be done,” said Phelps.
“It’s sad that today in sports in general, not just only swimming, there are people who are testing positive who are allowed back in the sport -- and multiple times.
“It breaks what sport is meant to be and that’s what pisses me off.”
Doping has cast a long shadow over the Rio Olympics after a row over the participation of Russia since revelations of a state-orchestrated drugs regime.
Chinese swimmer Sun Yang, who served a doping ban in 2014, has also come under fire after Australia’s Mack Horton called him a “drugs cheat”. France’s Camille Lacourt alleged on Monday that Sun “pisses purple”.
