The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has ratified on 15 November 2013 during the World Conference on Doping in Sport in Johannesburg (South Africa) a new doping code, which means the punishments for doping offenses will be tougher.
Doping Guideline
The new World Anti-Doping Agency code is a guideline for hundreds of sports associations and governments and will go into force in 2015. Athletes caught using doping substances will get a four-year suspension imposed. Currently, it is generally up to half of the new punishment. The new code marks the end of two years of refining the doping code, based on input from various stakeholders.
WADA further announced that the doping tests will be refined in 2015 and the World Anti-Doping Agency will also use more often investigation- and interrogation methods. Furthermore, if the agency finds out that coaches and trainers supported their athletes in their use of doping, then these people will also receive a stricter than punishment than before.
The Anti-Doping Agency will also slightly increase their budget by 1%, which is a change to the past two years in which there was no increase at all.
Famous Doping Cases
During the last years, several famous athletes in various sports around the world caught using banned substances.
For example, the famous baseball player Barry Bonds for nine months suspended for using Methenolone. The British athlete Dwain Chambers because he had used the banned substance Tetrahydrogestrinone and was suspended for two years. Tyson Gay, the USA record holder 100 meter sprint, tested positive for a banned substance in July 2013 during an out of competition test. Unlike many other athletes, Gay told the press he didn’t have any sabotage story and indicated he made a mistake.
However, the most famous doping case of the past decade is without a doubt the Lance Armstrong Case. The American, who was once considered to be the ‘greatest cyclist in the world’, admitted he used doping for many years. He was stripped off his seven wins in the Tour de France and he also had to hand in his bronze medal he won at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. Armstrong is banned from cycling for life by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
