Doping offender row taken to CAS

A row over whether athletes found guilty of doping should be given a lifetime ban will be taken to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in order to obtain a resolution.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) has issued a lifetime exclusion from competing for doping offenders, identified through urine samples which are analysed using GCMS techniques.

However, the world anti-doping authority claims that the ruling contravenes its global code, with both parties hoping that CAS can decide a solution prior to the London Olympic Games in eight months.

Whatever the outcome, Liz Nicholl, chief executive of funding body UK Sport, has said that BOA will stand by its policy of a lifetime ban on public funding for any athlete who has received a two-year suspension for a doping offence.

"This a very different thing to the BOA by-law … The principle here is that public investment is a privilege and not a right, and a ban from public funding does not restrict an athlete plying their trade and competing at all events," she explained.

Posted by Fiona Griffiths