Banned athletes get a brief reprieve for London Olympics

The one-year bans on four athletes from India have been pushed back by the anti-doping appeals panel and the order clearly states that the dates of commencement of the sentences have been pushed back only to allow the athletes 'to train and compete at the London Olympics'.

The last qualifying event for relays ends on July 1 at Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Asian Games double gold medalist Ashwini Akkunji, Sini Jose, Tiana Mary Thomas, and Priyanka Panwar are among the athletes who challenged the suspensions imposed by the anti-doping disciplinary panel. The athletes had put the blame squarely on Yuri Ogorodnik, the sacked Ukrainian coach.

From Dailymail.co.uk:

The IAAF will club the cases of these four athletes with those of Mandeep Kaur and Jauna Murmu, who too had flunked dope tests and were suspended for a year each.

All these will be put before the CAS. In fact, the order, which came out on Tuesday, says very clearly that the dates of commencement of the sentences have been pushed back only to allow the athletes 'to train and compete at the London Olympics'.

Bans generally don't start from the date of sample collection and either begin from the date of provisional suspension or from when the order is pronounced.

The athletes had challenged the one-year suspensions imposed by the antidoping disciplinary panel to which the World Anti-Doping Agency had filed a counter appeal before the appeals panel seeking a two year ban.

A three-member appeals panel, headed by CK Mahajan pointed out that the athletes have proved how the prohibited substance entered their bodies and the panel was convinced with their arguments.

The latest verdict gives the athletes another chance to qualify for the London Olympics.

Sophisticated dopers to be aware of testers

The battle to keep the London Olympics free from drugs has begun even before the opening ceremony next July.

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Britain's largest drugmaker, has offered a sophisticated laboratory that is ready and waiting.

From Reuters.com:

"We have a state-of-the-art facility, we have the best detection systems going, we're right up to date with the science, and if athletes know you've got good testing and good detection systems, it really has a deterrent effect," said David Cowan, head of the Drug Control Centre at King's College London and the man who will oversee London 2012's anti-doping regime.
His staff, which he has expanded to include eight times as many scientists as he would normally have, are aiming to conduct more than 5,000 tests at the London Olympics - roughly one for every two of the 10,000 or so athletes expected to take part.
As the science of detecting doping advances, athletes who cheat by using performance-enhancing drugs are devising ever more sophisticated doping regimes.

The drugs of choice for cheats, usually, vary from anabolic steroids to human growth hormone, blood boosters like erythropoietin (EPO), beta-blockers and stimulants, or diuretics.