China bars swimmer`s return after ban

Paris: Do dopers in sport deserve a fresh start after serving a drugs ban? Or should convicted cheats be

shunned forever? Those are questions thrown up by the case of Ouyang Kunpeng, formerly a top Chinese backstroker. Authorities in his home province say Ouyang wants to return to competitive swimming after serving a two-year doping ban but cannot because zealously anti-drug officials in China refuse to give him a second chance. China`s treatment of the 28-year-old former Asian record holder feeds into a wider debate within sports about whether athletes who fail drug tests should face additional punishments on top of the bans laid out in the world anti-doping code, or whether serving a suspension is, in itself, sufficient. Britain`s Olympic Association, for example, gives lifetime Olympic bans to British athletes who fail drug tests. The International Olympic Committee bars any athlete who receives a doping suspension of at least six months from taking part in the next Olympics. Top European track and field meets, working together, also shun athletes returning from bans of two years or more. China`s punishment of Ouyang, however, goes a step further. Even though his two-year suspension was completed in May, Chinese sports authorities say he will never again be allowed to compete in any government-sanctioned swimming events in China, effectively prolonging his ban. "We won`t let him represent China in any competition," swim official Yuan Haoran told The Associated Press by phone. "He won`t enter the Chinese national team again because of the very bad precedent he set." Ouyang failed a doping test before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. He was banned for life under regulations for national team athletes that China introduced earlier that year and which were more draconian than the international norm. The ruling Communist Party wanted the Olympics to showcase China`s rise as a global power. It did not want doping cases to sully the show or its athletes. Ouyang was made an example of to demonstrate zero-tolerance and to show that China had cleaned up significantly since a rash of drug cases, particularly in swimming and athletics, in the 1990s and early 2000s raised questions about whether doping in China was state-sanctioned or poorly policed. The life ban for Ouyang was not in line with the world anti-doping code`s two-year suspension for first offenses. So swimming`s governing body, FINA, acting with the World Anti-Doping Agency, quietly and successfully pressured China to reduce the ban. That sentence-reduction has not been publicized until now. They leaned on China by filing an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. "In order not to proceed further with the appeal procedure, the Chinese Swimming Association finally reduced the suspension to a two years` sanction," FINA said in a statement. But even though FINA and WADA intervened on Ouyang`s behalf, the anti-doping agency`s director general, David Howman, says it is powerless to help him now. "If the Chinese authorities do not allow him to compete in Chinese government sponsored events, this is not a matter of anti-doping rules but rather of Chinese regulations. There is not much WADA could do about it," Howman said in a statement. "The only realistic solution would seem to be that he pursue his swimming career outside of mainland China." Sports authorities in Ouyang`s home province of Jiangxi say the triple silver medalist at the 2006 Asian Games wants to resume competition, has kept fit during his ban and is working as a swim coach and trainer. But Yuan, a swimming director at the government`s General Administration of Sport, said the domestic ban for Ouyang will last for life. He also said that after two-plus years out of the sport, Ouyang is no longer good enough to compete for the national team. "Many athletes have overtaken him now,`` he said. Still, an official at the Jiangxi provincial sports bureau said they are petitioning Chinese swimming authorities to allow Ouyang to compete in government-organized events. Unless that happens, Ouyang will only be able to compete in nonofficial or club events in China, of which there are not many and where "the quality of competition is not very high," said the Jiangxi sports official reached by phone. He gave only his surname, Wang. The maintained domestic prohibition for Ouyang comes despite China saying that it has since suspended the regulations it used to ban him for life in 2008. The General Administration of Sport plans to introduce new regulations in 2011 that will be in line with WADA`s code, said an official at the administration`s regulatory department, who gave his name as Mr. Zhang. Bureau Report