• London Olympics 2012

Drug users don't deserve Olympics reprieve - Thompson

Daley Thompson believes because Dwain Chambers broke the BOA's rules, they should be able to punish him as they see fit © Getty Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• News: Ban drug users from Olympics - Halsall
  
• News: Millar calls for more tests ahead of Olympics
  

Double Olympic gold medallist Daley Thompson has thrown his support behind the British Olympic Association's lifetime ban, declaring "serious" drug cheats "should not be at this Olympics or any Olympics".

The on-going debate surrounding lifetime Olympic bans heads to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne on March 12, when a decision on whether to overturn the BOA's hard-line stance - which is being opposed by the World Anti-Doping Agency - is expected.

Currently the likes of sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar are unable to perform at this summer's Olympics despite having already served two-year bans. If the BOA lose in front of the CAS then the path will be clear for Chambers and Millar to be part of Team GB in London.

However, Thompson is of the opinion that once a cheat, always a cheat, insisting that lifetime Olympic bans should exist for athletes who knowingly did wrong.

He told the Daily Mail: "I'd just like someone to explain to me, if you've got an exclusive club [the BOA] and you've got certain rules [a lifetime exclusion for serious offenders] and one of your members goes against those rules, why can't you throw him out? Why should international law make you take him back?

"I don't see why we should be dragged down by the rest of the world, who impose a maximum two-year ban on even the most motivated cheaters. If we want high standards in this country then we should be entitled to them. If the rest of the world don't share our standards or can't enforce them why should we have to kowtow?

"The BOA's opponents say cheats deserve a second chance, redemption. Well, for redemption you first have to be sorry. And don't tell me that Marion Jones is sorry she systematically took performance-enhancing drugs. No, she's sorry she got caught. She lied under oath and only admitted to her crime in a plea-bargain after an FBI investigation.

"David Millar is sorry - sorry he got caught. Dwain Chambers is sorry he got caught.

"It angers me that people in positions who should know better, and who are clearly not in the majority, are more worried about the perpetrators' rights than the victims'. And in sport - which I think should have higher standards than the rest of society - justice has swung too far in the wrong direction.

"I know there are various levels of offences. People buying a flu remedy over the counter. Take the skier Alain Baxter being banned for using a dodgy Vicks inhaler after winning bronze at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics. I don't care about that kind of thing. I also accept there are some grey areas in the debate. But I'm saying that for serial/serious offenders: don't come back."

Thompson slammed WADA, who believe the BOA are imposing bans not supported by any other nation, insisting there is little to show for the money they have parted with in recent years.

"The World Anti-Doping Agency have spent £118 million since 2001, and £18.6m in 2010, the last year for which they published their financial records, and they have caught virtually nobody," he said. "That's before you add the almost £200m spent annually by international federations and national anti-doping agencies.

"So I want to know what WADA are doing. They are meant to be policing my sport - for me, not the cheats. They are meant to be looking after the little guy. They are not doing any of that. So, tell me this, why are they still in existence?

"They have come up with the minimum they can impose. I want them to be in court all the time - fighting cheats, not the BOA. WADA are not taking their job seriously. They are bean-counters and do-gooders - well, why don't they do some good for the people who have always competed fairly?"

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.