Amid calls to criminalise doping in some countries, including India, IAAF President Sebastian Coe on Wednesday said he prefers sports bodies to be in control of sanctioning athletes as taking matters to court would “complicate” things. Speaking to PTI on the sidelines of the ongoing World Athletics Championships, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) chief said tackling doping should remain the sole prerogative of sports bodies. In order to tackle the menace, some countries (like Ethiopia, Austria, France and Italy) have passed legislations to make doping a criminal offence.
In India too, deliberations are underway to do the same.”There is a discussion going on now. Some say it is better for sports itself to deal with doping cases instead of doing that by the courts. Sometimes sports can imposed sanctions that criminal courts cannot impose,” Coe said. “Then you have the discussion that ‘does such a case go to courts first or to sports first?’ If it goes to criminal courts first and a person serves a prison sentence, that may be for just three or four months. Whereas sports can imposes sanctions may be of four years and thus sports can deal with it in a tougher way. “Personally I prefer sports to be in control of sanctioning athletes.
Once you allow criminal courts to be involved, the case becomes very complicated,” he added. Turning to the ongoing World Championships, Coe said it was quite a shock for some to see Usain Bolt finish third in the 100m sprint even though he was not very surprised. However, Coe feels it will not dent the affable Jamaican’s status as the greatest sprinter of all time. Justin Gatlin avenged his second place finish to Bolt in five successive World Championships and Olympics finals by clinching the gold in a dramatic race on Saturday but Coe said that result will have no bearing on the Jamaican bowing out as the greatest sprinter of all time. “Everybody wanted him (Bolt) to end his career as a winner. But it is a small part of his history. He will look back and realise that it does not actually change anything about his status, who he is and how good his races have been and how much he has done for the sport of athletics,” Coe said.
