Madrid Risks Harming Its 2020 Olympic Bid

Richard Pound, a respected IOC member from Canada and the former President of WADA-the World Anti-Doping Agency-stated that Madrid's bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics is being undermined by the country's apparent attempts to protect individual athletes rather than being tougher on athletes that violate anti-doping regulations. The issue was highlighted on Monday this week when the Court of Arbitration for Sport banned Alberto Contador, the 2007, 2009 and 2010 Tour de France winner, for two years for tesing positive during the 2010 race, a finding that Contador disputes, claiming that he unwittingly ate contaminated meat containing the banned substances. Spanish authorities are asking for a lenient interpretation of the principle of 'stricit liability', which essentially states that athletes are solely responsible for any substances in their body. By seeking leniency, Spain is hoping to remove direct blame from Contador and thereby reduce or eliminate his ban. Pound is right to not have the principle of strict liability altered. Any athlete taking banned substances, either knowingly or not, creates an unfair advantage over competitors, which harms the integrity of the competition. Cycling's reputation has been severely harmed over the years due to ongoing doping scandals and the IOC understandably does not want any hint of controversy from its candidate cities. The IOC will announce the winning host city in September 2013 in Buenas Aires and Madrid only complicates their bid with their current lenient stance on doping rules.