Campbell: Ban drug cheats for life
DARREN CAMPBELL has called for lifetime bans for serious drug cheats after the doping saga that has embroiled world 100metres champion Justin Gatlin.
The Athletics Integrity Unit has opened an investigation into Gatlin, his coach Dennis Mitchell and Robert Wagner, an occasional agent for Gatlin, after Mitchell and Wagner allegedly offered to buy performance-enhancing drugs for undercover Daily
Telegraph reporters. Wagner also claimed Gatlin, who has twice served drugs bans, is a doper.
Gatlin has rejected the allegations, for which he is considering suing the newspaper, and has sacked Mitchell, who won 4x100m relay gold for the USA in 1992 before receiving a two-year doping ban in 1998.
Regardless of how the investigation plays out, it is another scar on the sport. Retired British sprinter Campbell believes athletics needs to find a way to permanently ban serious past offenders, given that the World Anti-Doping Agency admitted in 2014 that lifetime sanctions are currently unenforceable by law.
Campbell told Sportsmail: ‘We have to be careful because no one has been proven innocent or guilty of anything here. But any of these situations involving doping are why people call for zero tolerance, because otherwise we keep going round in circles.
‘I have always wanted life bans but I also understand people deserve second chances. We need to find a way to get to life bans. Every case needs to be judged on its merits because not everything deserves a life ban, but we should have the option.’
A statement from Gatlin said: ‘I am not using and have not used performance-enhancing drugs. I was shocked and surprised to learn that my coach would have anything to do with these accusations.’