by Tim Carter

Created on: July 24, 2008   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

On the face of it,banned for life sounds like an extremely harsh punishment for an athlete who knows nothing else other than their sport.However,without this extreme,enforceable option available to all sporting authorities then the possibility of cheating through drugs can become a probability.

When an athlete takes a banned substance they know the implications. It is cheating as soon as the substance is in their body. Cheating in any form,particularly cheating through drug taking, is the complete antithesis of sport.Every sportsperson chooses to take part through a combination of their skill and a love of their sport. When they reach the point that they think or they are persuaded that drug taking is the only option to progress then they have sold their soul, their love affair is over.

Gaining an advantage over an opponent must be achieved either by having and utilising innate skills more effectively,training harder,choosing and implementing better tactics and strategies or by having a superior mental approach during the course of the contest.If drug taking becomes part of the mix then opponents are no longer theoretically on a level playing field. It goes without saying that drug testing must be infallible and undertaken randomly in order to eradicate the cheats from controlling the whole process.

Spectators,friends,trainers want to see competition where ideally their favourite wins, but if that is not possible they want to know that defeat was not as a result of drugs.It is not a contest between doctors with the best drugs. Indeed,I would ban the "administerer",as well as the athlete,for life if it was proven that they were implicit in the cheating procedure.

In a world of many shades of grey,to have the black and white of drugs equalling life ban would once and for all put an end different outcomes,put an end to re-instatements and once and for all put the clean athlete back in control of their deserved destiny.Successful sportspeople act as role models to children and if that success can only be achieved without the crutch of drugs then the whole of that part of society will have taken a massive leap forward.The penalty for using drugs must be the ultimate deterrent.The ultimate deterrent in this case is being banned for life without any if's,but's or maybe's.The recent barring of former drug cheat Dwayne Chambers from the British Olympic team to go to China was an important step on this path and will hopefully signal an adherence to a strict policy in the future.

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