Major Beijing drug cheats will 'miss next Games'
Updated: 2008-06-06 09:46
ATHENS - The International Olympic Committee said on Thursday that serious doping offenders at the the Beijing Olympics would be banned from the next Games.
The International Olympic Committee(IOC) Communications Director Giselle Davies, seen here in 2007, announced that drug cheats will be banned from future Olympics after Beijing 2008 if they are caught and sanctioned for over six months.
The IOC's Executive Board approved an eligibility rule that was initially to be voted on during the IOC's Session in Beijing and come into effect only after the 2008 Games.
The rule states that any athlete who is sanctioned for six months or more for a doping offence will be banned from the next Olympics.
It will now come into force on July 1 and will affect all serious doping offenders caught at the Aug 8-24 Games, after a decision taken by the IOC Executive Board in Athens.
If athletes receive bans of six months or more for their offence in Beijing, they will automatically miss the 2012 Games in London.
"The decision taken today is one step to try and help reinforce and find another weapon in the armoury in the fight (against doping)," IOC Communications Director Giselle Davies told reporters.
TOUGH REGULATIONS
All major doping offences including blood-doping and steroid use usually carry a two-year suspension for first-time offenders.
The IOC initially said it would need a charter change to introduce it and so could only come into force after the Beijing Olympics, where the IOC will meet.
But the rule was labelled an eligibility rule that could be approved by the Executive Board without a charter change and be brought forward to include Beijing.
Drugs testers will perform some 4,500 doping tests during the August 8-24 Games, up from about 3,600 in Athens four years ago.
Athletes can be tested more than once on the same day and all top five finishers as well as two other random athletes will also face tests as the IOC seeks to crack down on performance-enhancing drugs.
There will be a total of 41 doping control stations, 34 in Beijing and seven in the co-host cities where some other sports will be staged.
Source: China Daily