British Olympic doping appeal 'a waste of time'

The director-general of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Tuesday said the British Olympic Association (BOA) had "wasted a lot of time and money" appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on lifetime bans for drug cheats. David Howman said the BOA should have considered their position last year when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) failed in their bid to introduce the so-called Osaka rule to have all drug cheats banned from the next Olympics even if their suspension was completed. "The BOA decided to appeal and that appeal was totally defeated," he said in a WADA media teleconference. We gave the BOA a chance to review their opinion after the IOC case. The BOA wasted a lot of time and money and got the inevitable result." The BOA had wanted to introduce a bye-law relating to the selection of British athletes for the London Games but their defeat leaves a clear path for the likes of sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar to compete this summer. Howman warned the BOA that they must now comply with the CAS ruling before a scheduled meeting of the WADA board on May 18. "May 18 is the only board meeting that we will have before the London Olympics so it is an opportunity to sort it out before the Games," he said. "If they don't comply before then, then their position would be maintained and we would report to the IOC accordingly." Howman added that the CAS ruling affirmed the primacy of WADA's rules over those of any national Olympic association. "Yes it does. What we have to reflect upon is that both the IOC and BOA were original signatories to the whole wider set-up. So they abide by it. I think it comes down to something as simple as that. "The Code was introduced at the behest of all Olympic committees and sports federations of the world, but here one committee is looking for extra sanctions."Howman also took issue with BOA chairman Colin Moynihan's claim that the case had been a "hollow victory" for WADA and criticised him for not taking the chance to enter into discussions before going ahead with the appeal. "To claim this issue a hollow victory for WADA was the wrong way of looking at it. "Their appeal was totally rejected. That should be the proper way of looking at a court decision. The bigger issue is the rest of the world thinking 'why have you done this?'". "He (Moynihan) has expressed views which are hardly in touch with the issue of doping. "We invited him to talk with us and we anticipated that to happen last October but it didn't happen."