This article was contributed by Daniela Kapser, Essen, Germany
A draft of a more restrictive anti-doping law was approved by German Federal Cabinet today. The ratification of the law by the Parliament is planned by year-end.
German Federal Justice Minister Heiko Maas declared in a press release that the anti-doping-law is a statement for clean sport and a fight against doping in high-performance sport.
In the past, the combat against doping was focused primarily on the prosecution of backers. Previously, Germany’s normal anti-drug laws rarely saw athletes prosecuted. In the future, Athletes who dope won’t only punished with a competition ban. The new law will see those using performance-enhancing drugs in sport sent to prison – two or three-year prison sentence could be possible or heavy fines.
Minister Maas added that with the new anti-doping-law they also support the Olympic bid Hamburg because athletes, spectators, sponsors and organizations want clean games. He stated that “the consequence in the battle against doping should be an important factor in the awarding of the Olympic Games.”
The anti-doping-act affected those 7.000 athletes who are in the national anti-doping-monitoring-system – the NADA (Nationale Anti Doping Agentur) test pool in Germany. Amateur and mass sport should be excluded from the new rules on criminal prosecution. The focus is on those who are top level and professional sportsmen and women, in the draft only those “earning a significant amount from sport” are under surveillance and could face prosecution.
(Sources: Press release of the German Federal Ministry of justice 25.03.2015, Berlin, Germany : http://www.bmjv.de/SharedDocs/Pressemitteilungen/DE/2015/20150325_Antidoping.html and
Frankfurter Rundschau
http://www.fr-online.de/sport/anti-doping-gesetz-betruegern-droht-gefaengnis,1472784,30214506.html )
Will Shirley and the other women of 1976 ever receive justice?
What tells you that american girls werent as full as GDR girls?
GDR broke down and then everyone was able to read the “doping documents” and take it as a prove. Which GDR swimmers were actually caught?
USA didnt break down (until now), so even if there also would be such documents we wouldnt know about them. So no GDR/USA swimmers of that time were caught, the only difference we know for sure is that USA didnt break down, unlike GDR.
Same for pilots?
I hope you didnt have a clear mind when you wrote that.
1) Show some respect for the people who died and their families.
2) Keep things like that out of sport.
Let’s hold all international swim competitions in Germany.
You would be disappointed by the athletes that would compete and their times, but this law only works for german citizens, so no need to worry for the rest of the world. Germany will become even worse in swimming (and other sports).
Is it going to be a fixed 2 or 3 years or is it negotiable, so that you can get out right before your big championship meet?
I think that has never happened in german sport/swimming, unlike in many other countries, so it wont happen anyway, even without this law. As sad as it might sound, but there are still nation that really want to fight doping and dont just welcome guys like gatlin back in their national team.
That didnt happen in germany even without this law, so it also wont happen with this law. Park is allowed to come back right before 2016 og by fina, not by corean swimming. Its not possible for any nation to just decide for how long athletes will be banned.
Imagine if Russia has this law….