In 252 days time the best athletes in the world will descend on London for the 2012 Olympics. Millions will watch the games without batting a suspicious eyelid, but some will always be skeptical about the feats on show.
Can they really run that fast, jump that high or throw that far without some sort of help?
The British Olympic Association has taken what is seen as a hard line stance when it comes to athletes who’ve tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
Any British athlete who has served a drugs ban of six months or longer isn’t allowed to be selected for the Olympics ever again.
Former New South Wales Premier John Fahey, now in charge of the World Anti-Doping Agency, says he’s “disappointed” by the BOA’s stance and has asked them to fall into line with the rest of the world.
At the moment the BOA is the only association handing out lifetime bans.
Colin Moynihan, the chairman of the BOA, told Fahey via the media that he’ll continue to exclude athletes who have served bans, but whether he actually has the power to do so remains unclear.
British sprinter Dwain Chambers, who failed a drugs test in 2003, is believed to be considering challenging the lifetime ban following a recent ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The International Olympic Committee was forced to scrap a rule banning athletes who had served a drugs ban of six months or longer from the next Olympics after US 400m champion LaShawn Merritt felt he shouldn’t be punished for longer than WADA deemed appropriate.
CAS agreed branding the Olympic ban “invalid and unenforceable”. They clearly feel someone shouldn’t be sat in the naughty corner twice for the same crime.
The big question is this: Should redemption come so easy?
There’s something not right about watching an athlete compete at an Olympics who had previously turned to a substance stronger than a banana to get that extra bit of energy.
Merritt was banned for 21 months after testing positive to a banned steroid in early 2010, but completed his exile from the sport in July.
How would you feel about him taking to the top step of the podium in London and having a gold medal draped around his neck?
Merritt has served his time but like Chambers is finding the weight of his past sins hard to shake.
Should the Olympics be the domain of people who as IOC President Jacques Rogge recently said respect the spirit of the event? Or are past mistakes just that?
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