Critics say a lifetime ban for a first steroids offense is not feasible.
By Associated Press
Published December 9, 2003
LONDON - USA Track & Field's plan for lifetime bans for first-time steroid offenders will never be upheld in court, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency said Monday.
WADA chairman Dick Pound said the new policy, adopted Sunday by USATF delegates, is a PR stunt aimed at diverting attention from criticism of the U.S. federation's anti-doping record.
"It's a pretty blatant attempt to try and grab the limelight by saying, "We're more Catholic than the pope, and we want to do this to show how tough we are,' " Pound told the Associated Press.
Pound contrasted the new policy with the USATF's refusal to explain why Jerome Young was cleared of a doping offense after testing positive for steroids in 1999. Young went on to win relay gold at the 2000 Olympics.
"At the same time they're protecting Jerome Young," Pound said, "they're talking about a lifetime ban and here they've got a guy walking around with an Olympic gold medal around his neck."
The USATF repeatedly has said it is bound by an international arbitration court ruling upholding its decision to maintain secrecy on doping acquittals.
Pound, a Canadian lawyer who frequently has criticized USATF, said life bans for a first offense can't be enforced legally and go against WADA's mandate for two-year suspensions. The USATF said the lifetime ban wouldn't take effect until questions about its legality are resolved.
While describing USATF's move as a "very promising signal," International Association of Athletics Federations general secretary Istvan Gyulai said the American body should come clean on Young.
"The world immediately says, "If you are doing this for the future, why don't you do this for the past?' " Gyulai told the AP.
Gyulai said IAAF's rules call for a "minimum" two-year ban for a first steroid offense. The IAAF tried to impose four-year bans in the 1990s but switched to two years after courts in several countries refused to accept the harsher sanction.
