WADA cracking down on cheaters

In the year that Lance Armstrong admitted to a career of performance-enhancing drug use The World Anti-Doping Agency will be upping the ante on cheaters during their upcoming conference.

WADA will meet in November for their World Conference on Doping in Sport. The conference comes hot on the heels of the cycling icon admitting to the use of PEDs. Armstrong won seven Tour de France titles and the revelations gave answers to the question of whether such an elaborate doping regime could go undetected for so long.

The international organization which sets standards for banned substances and doping control is expected to reaffirm their call for all sports and countries to adopt the biological passport. The passport is meant to track drastic or unusual fluctuations of testosterone and other biological parameters in an athlete’s blood.

It is also expected WADA will bring into effect stronger penalties for first-time offenders. Currently in Canada an athlete who fails a drug test for their first time will face a two-year ban. Under the new rules that ban would be doubled to four. Second-time cheats already face a lifetime ban and will continue to under the new rules.

Closer to home for runners was a recent high-level drug bust involving some of the world’s top sprinters. Among others, Tyson Gay, American 100m record holder, Asafa Powell, previous 100m world record holder, and Sherone Simpson, Beijing Olympic 100m silver medalist, all tested positive for banned substances in July leading up to the World Track and Field Championships.