No invite for doping cheats
03/03/2008 18:16  - (SA)  

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Chambers misses appeal deadline Chambers faces financial ruin 'Convicted cheats not welcome'

Raf Casert

Brussels - Dwain Chambers and any other athletes who have served suspensions for major doping offences will not be invited to compete at major European meets, a top organiser said on Monday.

"It is a message to the new generation: `Stay off doping. And if you don't, don't come looking here,"' Wilfried Meert, organiser of the Van Damme Golden League meet, told The Associated Press.

Meert said organisers will stick to the policy even in the face of potential legal challenges. "We don't fear a court case," he said. "We have to adapt to reality."

The measure has been adopted by organisers of Europe's 51 major invitational meets, including all the Golden League and Grand Prix events, and applies to athletes who have been banned for two years.

British sprinter Chambers and Chryste Gaines, two-time Olympic US relay medallist, have complained of being ostracised after serving two-year bans in the Balco doping scandal.

Chambers threatened legal action after Britain's athletic federation tried to keep him from competing at this week's World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain. The federation backed off and agreed to let him run.

Meert said legal threats would not have any effect on invitational meets.

'Have to refuse lots of people'

"If Chambers is stopped by his federation he will go to the European court (of human rights) in Strasbourg and win," he said. "But we just invite people. I have to refuse lots of people every year."

Meert said Marion Jones' involvement in the Balco affair showed that drastic measures were needed.

The former five-time Olympic medallist was sentenced early this year to six months in prison for lying to investigators about using performance-enhancing drugs and about her role in a check-fraud scam. Balco is the lab at the centre of the steroids scandal in US professional sports.

Up to two years ago, the Euro meetings group resisted Scandinavian attempts to impose such a ban, arguing everyone deserves a second chance. But Jones' belated doping confession has ruled out any leniency, Meert said.

"We have to stop this because the sport loses its credibility," he said.

- SAPA

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