SIXTY-SIX athletes competing at the 2015 world championships who have served bans for doping offences are named today by The Sunday Times.
The athletes all breached rules designed to prevent the use of performance-enhancing drugs but have exploited lenient rules to return to competition after suspensions.
They include six competitors in the prestigious men’s 100m competition. One was eliminated in yesterday’s heats but five will take part in today’s semifinals. The blue-riband event has been overshadowed by the expected clash between Usain Bolt, the sport’s biggest star, and Justin Gatlin, a two-time drugs cheat.
The number of banned athletes competing will raise further questions about whether the athletics authorities are doing enough to combat the problem.
Three weeks ago The Sunday Times and the German broadcaster ARD/WDR revealed the contents of a previously secret database, which showed the extraordinary extent of cheating at previous world championships and Olympics.
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Athletes who are competing in this year’s world championships in Beijing despite having previously failed drugs tests include four of the winners of yesterday’s seven heats in the 100m, including Gatlin; five women competing in heats of the 100m, which begin today; and the entire Belarus women’s shot-putting team.
The former 1500m world champion runners Tatyana Tomashova from Russia and Rashid Ramzi from Bahrain, who have never been stripped of their 2005 gold medals despite recording tests that pointed to doping, are also competing. Tomashova won her heat yesterday.
David Baddeley, the British 1500m runner who has been beaten by Ramzi in past races, described the numbers of banned athletes competing as “staggering”.
“Sixty-odd athletes is a lot. That could be pretty much one in every semifinal,” he said. “Someone who has knowingly cheated and carried out a serious offence I think should be banned for life. They shouldn’t be able to compete again.”
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Writing today in The Sunday Times, Ed Moses, the chairman of the US anti-doping agency and Olympic gold medallist, urges the new IAAF president Lord Coe to “make good” on his calls for an independent anti-doping programme to guarantee the sport’s integrity.
Moves to stiffen penalties to prevent athletes from competing in the top competitions once they have tested positive have been suggested but the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) has been advised by lawyers that a life-time ban for a first offence would be a breach of their rights to earn a living.
Under the latest rules, athletes are given two to four years for a first offence, but this can be reduced if there are mitigating factors. Multiple second offences could lead to a lifetime ban and if an athlete transgresses for a third time they will not be allowed to compete again.
The IAAF, which runs the world championships, is bound by Wada’s code. Coe has said in the past that he would like to see more life- bans but recognises it could lead to legal challenges from athletes.
The situation means the IAAF is powerless to stop athletes such as Gatlin, who was banned for a total of six years for two doping offences but says he has never cheated, competing at major events.
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Brendan Foster, the Olympic medallist and BBC commentator, said: “Justin Gatlin by the rules of the sport is allowed to compete, but both myself and the hundreds of other people like me who care about the sport will be cheering for Usain Bolt.”
Mara Yamauchi, a long-distance athlete who holds the second-fastest time for a British woman in the marathon, said: “The number of athletes who have served bans competing at the world championships is further evidence that doping is widespread in athletics. It is vital that the relevant authorities re-double their efforts on anti-doping . . . I hope Lord Coe will lead these efforts to ensure a clean sport.”
Meanwhile, sources close to Wada say the organisation is preparing to throw the book at the Russian athletics foundation when it concludes its investigation into allegations that athletes were subjected to a systematic doping programme.