Olympics

[Jeems]

Where's the deterrent though? Any athletes caught taking a banned substance should be banned for life. Surely that's the only way to eradicate the scourge on a sport that has essentially had its whole credibility ruined. It's the very antithesis of what 'sport' is supposed to stand for i.e. fair play - particularly the oldest and most famous amateur competition in man's history.

There is no deterrent because sport is big business and run by the money men. They can rake in hundreds of millions off one athlete, build entire brands off them. You rarely get a major star who is banned - Lance Armstrong is probably the biggest example I can think of, but I think that only came about because whisteblowers (who'd already got done themselves) threatened to expose a wider issue so they took the moral high ground

[Stanley]

You rarely get a major star who is banned

Exactly - and therein lies the problem. Until they get tough the entire credibility of the sport is ruined. That's the bottom line here.