Australia Sets Strict Doping Standards
Olympians must pledge clean records
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The Australian Olympic Committee unanimously approved the introduction of “statutory declarations” into its Olympic criteria for the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
The AOC is requiring all prospective athletes and officials to sign a legal document on their anti-doping history. In order to be eligible, participants must swear they have never doped, or that they do have a doping violation and have served a sanction.
What makes this document so severe is that, in Australia, anyone found to have made a false statutory declaration could be subject to as many as five years in prison.
AOC President John Coates proposed this high water mark after the Lance Armstrong scandal blew up this past summer. It also comes in the wake of the Australian Crimes Commission releasing a report last week that linked doping to organized crime and said it is widespread in Australian sports.
Via ESPN
