They should STOP Giving Out Olympic Medals....

[Omega4ul]

I think they should stop giving out Olympic Medals on the podiums! They should give them fake medals and when they pass the drug test, they should recieve the real thing. In many High Schools and Colleges in the USA, we dont get real Diplomas or Degrees on stage...we get a fake ...and they send the real one in the mail after they verify we have passed all the respective courses. In the same manner i dont think they should conduct medal ceremonies unitl the drug test are clean too.
I just think it is unfair for athletes that earn medals to not get the proper recognition and recieve their medals in a timely manner! The Olympics Schedule is soo spaced out I dont think their is a problem with hosting the Medal Ceremony 1 or 2 days after the event, especially if that means you can confidently say the winners may not have cheated.

[imaginative]

I do like your basic idea. The problem is that a mere negative drug
test does not imply innocence. I would consider keeping the real medals
looked up until the beginning of the following OG. That way the
probability of finding the cheaters is increased.

Of course, neither is going to happen, because the IOC are unlikely to
agree, and because tv viewers are likely to scream fraud when they
learned of it (being unable to see what is important and what not).

[nmzoo]

I’ll go you one even better:
To stop the doping altogether do the following:

1. Athletes who fail both A and B samples are barred for life, that is “forever”. If they are part of a relay at that time, they are barred for life and the other members receive 2 year bans.

2. Prize or “appearance “money is withheld for 6 months. If they do not test positive during this time the money is released. Actual expenses can be paid “up front”, but no other money is released, not even to agents or coaches, until 6 months has passed.

3. If an athlete tests positive, the country he/she is representing loses one qualifying spot for the next World or Olympic Championship, in that event or, in the case they have no other qualifiers in that event, in some other event in which they do have qualifiers . If the country has no A or B qualifiers, then they lose their “wild card” entry.

4. All results and records in "major" competition (including WR's) are expunged and prize money must be repaid, no matter when achieved. Other competitors are NOT moved up.

[EPelle]

Re: point number one: If two athletes on a relay team test positive, do the remaining two get four-year bans? ;-) Put number one into effect, and the murder rate and/or athlete-on-athlete violence increases.

[croflash]

I’ll go you one even better:
To stop the doping altogether do the following:

1. Athletes who fail both A and B samples are barred for life, that is “forever”. If they are part of a relay at that time, they are barred for life and the other members receive 2 year bans.

2. Prize or “appearance “money is withheld for 6 months. If they do not test positive during this time the money is released. Actual expenses can be paid “up front”, but no other money is released, not even to agents or coaches, until 6 months has passed.

3. If an athlete tests positive, the country he/she is representing loses one qualifying spot for the next World or Olympic Championship, in that event or, in the case they have no other qualifiers in that event, in some other event in which they do have qualifiers . If the country has no A or B qualifiers, then they lose their “wild card” entry.

4. All results and records in "major" competition (including WR's) are expunged and prize money must be repaid, no matter when achieved. Other competitors are NOT moved up.

That is completely unrealistic, you can't ban someone for participating in a relay in which others have taken PEDs. I see where you are coming from, but it's not fair to punish an athlete from the same team or country for the wrongdoings of someone else. The only way to stop doping is to make it legal which would be the end of sports we know today.

[imaginative]

I’ll go you one even better:
To stop the doping altogether do the following:

1. Athletes who fail both A and B samples are barred for life, that is “forever”. If they are part of a relay at that time, they are barred for life and the other members receive 2 year bans.

2. Prize or “appearance “money is withheld for 6 months. If they do not test positive during this time the money is released. Actual expenses can be paid “up front”, but no other money is released, not even to agents or coaches, until 6 months has passed.

3. If an athlete tests positive, the country he/she is representing loses one qualifying spot for the next World or Olympic Championship, in that event or, in the case they have no other qualifiers in that event, in some other event in which they do have qualifiers . If the country has no A or B qualifiers, then they lose their “wild card” entry.

4. All results and records in "major" competition (including WR's) are expunged and prize money must be repaid, no matter when achieved. Other competitors are NOT moved up.

That is completely unrealistic, you can't ban someone for participating in a relay in which others have taken PEDs. I see where you are coming from, but it's not fair to punish an athlete from the same team or country for the wrongdoings of someone else. The only way to stop doping is to make it legal which would be the end of sports we know today.

However, a variation on the same principle might work well. Consider
the following possible rules:

1. If a country has more than x drug cheats revealed per million
citizens in one year, it is excluded from the next championship.

2. If a trainer has an athlete caught for cheating, he receives a
six-month ban. For each additional athlete the suspension is doubled.

3. If a manager has an athlete revealed as a cheater, he must pay a
fine of twice his earnings on that athlete.

(With variations, including similar rules for clubs, universities, and
other organisations.)

This would give involved parties a very strong incitament to keep their
athletes clean, keep bad influences away, close channels for PEDs, etc.

[EPelle]

Number one above, again, falls flat on its face. Shall a governing body be responsible for "governing" the actions of those who are outside of its borders, yet who wear their colours during a championship? If Christian Olsson and Kajsa Bergqvist - neither of whom lived f/t in Sverige during the peaks of their careers - failed drug tests whilst living in Monaco, would Sverige be responsible for that, and, thereby, possibly risk full participation sanctions the next championships?

[nmzoo]

I'll admit that some of this is draconian, but not much more so than depriving the other three members of a record setting or wining relay team the rewards of the results because one other member failed a test.

And,true, it would require the assistance of outside jurisdictions.

[imaginative]

Number one above, again, falls flat on its face. Shall a governing body be responsible for "governing" the actions of those who are outside of its borders, yet who wear their colours during a championship? If Christian Olsson and Kajsa Bergqvist - neither of whom lived f/t in Sverige during the peaks of their careers - failed drug tests whilst living in Monaco, would Sverige be responsible for that, and, thereby, possibly risk full participation sanctions the next championships?

Excellent point. I had the russian situation on my mind and did not
think that one through. Possibly, a variation of the rule could work,
e.g where athletes that spend more than x months a year abroad are
excluded if their national organisation pays for a certain number of
tests done by e.g. WADA (in addition to the normal load).

[Mellow Johnny]

I'll admit that some of this is draconian, but not much more so than depriving the other three members of a record setting or wining relay team the rewards of the results because one other member failed a test.

Can't agree with that. The success of the other 3 athletes was directly dependent on that one athlete using PED's.

That's like saying that a relay that has one member step on the lane line should keep their place except for the athlete that did it.

[Dave]

I’ll go you one even better:
To stop the doping altogether do the following:

1. Athletes who fail both A and B samples are barred for life, that is “forever”. If they are part of a relay at that time, they are barred for life and the other members receive 2 year bans.

2. Prize or “appearance “money is withheld for 6 months. If they do not test positive during this time the money is released. Actual expenses can be paid “up front”, but no other money is released, not even to agents or coaches, until 6 months has passed.

3. If an athlete tests positive, the country he/she is representing loses one qualifying spot for the next World or Olympic Championship, in that event or, in the case they have no other qualifiers in that event, in some other event in which they do have qualifiers . If the country has no A or B qualifiers, then they lose their “wild card” entry.

4. All results and records in "major" competition (including WR's) are expunged and prize money must be repaid, no matter when achieved. Other competitors are NOT moved up.

That is completely unrealistic, you can't ban someone for participating in a relay in which others have taken PEDs. I see where you are coming from, but it's not fair to punish an athlete from the same team or country for the wrongdoings of someone else. The only way to stop doping is to make it legal which would be the end of sports we know today.

It would be a return to the sports we didn't know that we knew in the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.