Wada proposes doubling bans in wake of Lance Armstrong doping scandal
As Armstrong punishment is hailed, invigorated agency wants heavier suspensions for dopers
The World Anti-Doping Agency has sought to redefine its role as a sports watchdog in the wake of allegations of a doping conspiracy involving cyclist Lance Armstrong and has proposed doubling bans for athletes caught using performance-enhancing drugs.
At a gathering in Montreal, Wada reviewed a draft code that would slap a four-year ban on anyone convicted of using anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and masking agents or trafficking in these substances.
The code, which would also give the anti-doping agency powers of investigation, will be finalised next year and take effect in 2015.
"There is a desire to increase penalties, to increase sanctions," Wada chairman John Fahey said, after a two-day meeting of the organisation's foundation board.
"And if you look at that the four-year [penalty], it certainly, invariably, will take out somebody competing at the next Olympics once it's imposed.
"It covers some of the things that certainly the Olympic movement believed ought to have been covered with their own rule in the past."