UK Athletics push for lifetime bans for British drug cheats

Thinking big: UKA chairman Ed Warner says his organisation is making a stand
John Gichigi/Getty Images

UK Athletics are pushing for lifetime bans for Britons caught doping and say the record books should be ripped up to start a new “clean era” for the sport.

The two issues are among 14 recommendations put forward by UKA today as they published ‘A Manifesto for Clean Athletics’, which is their response to the doping crisis.

Other suggestions include a global public register of all drug tests, making the supply and procurement of performance-enhancing drugs a criminal offence and getting national federations to compensate athletes denied medals by drug cheats.

The British Olympic Association used to give lifetime Olympic bans to doping offenders until their policy was overruled in the courts in 2012 because it was not compliant with the WADA code.

Although that code cannot be revised again until 2021, UKA chairman Ed Warner said his organisation will still push for a lifetime ban for British drugs cheats and hopes this idea and others in the report gain support from other governing bodies.

Warner told Standard Sport: “This may be seen by many as a mission impossible but we have to go for what’s perceived as the impossible. What we’re saying is let’s go up from four-year bans for the most serious offences and what we’re saying is we don’t want to pick drug cheats for the British team. I know the BOA couldn’t make it stick but we need to at least give it a go.”

The idea to scrap all previous records would mean three Britons being erased from the history books. Paula Radcliffe holds the world record for the marathon, Jonathan Edwards for the triple jump and Colin Jackson for the 60metre hurdles indoors.

But Warner said: “This is about, for example, the sprint events and the records of Florence Griffith Joyner in the 100m and 200m. If say Dafne Schippers gets close to those then people say she must be a cheat and that’s not right. So this is not about being partisan with three British athletes in those record books, this is about what’s right for the future of our sport.”

Warner was due to meet IAAF president Sebastian Coe later today to push forward UKA’s manifesto in what is a critical week for the world governing body with the publication of the second WADA independent commission report by Dick Pound in Munich on Thursday.

Despite the prospect of yet more damaging headlines for athletics, Warner believes a cleaner era for the sport is possible.

He said: “What we’re trying to do is stimulate debate. People will think some of the things are doable, some aren’t and some are just outlandish but we don’t feel we can wait.”

Also today, UKA made public the recommendations of their performance oversight committee, who investigated the body’s relationship with Nike Oregon Project and Alberto Salazar amid doping allegations — all denied — against Mo Farah’s coach.

In all, the committee, headed by new UKA president Jason Gardener, made five recommendations, which included greater due diligence on funded athletes working with foreign coaches and getting athletes to sign an agreement outlining their moral and ethical obligations.

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