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Carl Lewis: Send athletic drug cheats to jail

07/05/2008

Olympic great Carl Lewis has called for sporting drug cheats to be handed criminal prosecutions.

The US athlete, voted sportsman of the century by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), believes making testing positive for illegal substances a criminal offence is a necessary step to restore the reputation of athletics.

Marion Jones, a five medal-winner at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, was imprisoned earlier this year for lying in court about her participation in illegal doping, while 2004 Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin is currently serving a four-year ban for failing a drugs test.

And with the spectre of doping having cast a shadow on British sport after Dwain Chambers' failed bid to make the British Olympic squad, Lewis has told BBC Sport he believes criminalisation could be the answer.

"If people want a clean sport, we must bring together governments, the public and athletes," he explained.

"I would change the law - if you test positive, why can't it be illegal?"

While Italy has made doping illegal, Britain and most other Olympic nations only prosecute those involved in the manufacture and sale of illegal substances.

But according to Lewis, who won nine Olympic gold medals, a notion of illegality must be added to doping before athletes are persuaded that it is an unjust way to compete.

"The problem is that people choose to cheat," he said.

"Dwain Chambers didn't have talent. He had to take drugs, he had to cheat.

"I'm tired of these people that don't have talent, that take drugs and try to blame everybody."

Lewis added: "The reality is that most athletes are clean, most athletes do it right and good athletes don't take drugs. People who don't have talent take drugs."

George Mitchell, the US senator whose investigation into steroid abuse in baseball shocked America, echoed Lewis' comments, saying: "You have to identify it as what it is, cheating, wilful cheating that deprives the fans and other competitors of the level playing field that sport ought to involve."