British Olympic Association Chair Sebastian Coe "wants the ban for athletes failing drugs tests to be increased from two to four years," according to Mike Collett of REUTERS. Coe said, "We have to go back from two years to four years. The move down to two did a lot of damage to my sport. It is for the clean athletes. I don't care about the cheats we weed out. These people are trashing my sport." Coe was speaking after U.S. sprinter Tyson Gay and Jamaican sprinter Asafa Powell, both Olympic and world championship Gold Medalists, "provided positive samples earlier this month" (REUTERS, 7/21). The BBC reported Coe believes that "athletes are currently taking risks by cheating as the two-year ban does not take enough time out of their career to be a deterrent." The chairman "knows that lifetime bans are not possible." Coe: "If I could bring lifetime bans in I would" (BBC, 7/21). The DRUM reported Coe "is set to edit" the Weekend section of Saturday's London Daily Telegraph. Coe "will write for The Telegraph about a range of subjects, including sport, education, politics, family matters and travel as well as conducting interviews with high-profile figures across a wide range of sectors" (THE DRUM, 7/19).
