(REUTERS)-Spain’s athletics federation has called for bans for drug cheats to be doubled to four years.The federation would “ask the competent authorities and organisations” to modify the rules and extend the ban period for the use or promotion of illegal drugs, it said in a statement yesterday after a meeting of its board. The RFEA also threw its support behind the advent of biological passports for athletes, saying in the statement it would “take the necessary steps, together with the competent organisations, for (their) introduction”.
The initiatives come after several Spanish athletes and coaches, including world steeplechase champion Marta Dominguez , were implicated in a police investigation into doping dubbed “Operation Greyhound”.
Dominguez, who denied any wrongdoing, is suspected of involvement in the trafficking of drugs and crimes against public health and has been suspended from her post as a vice president of the RFEA.
Biological passports can help to catch drug cheats by measuring and monitoring selected markers, whose abnormal variations could indicate doping.
They have been introduced for professional riders by the International Cycling Union.
The International Association of Athletics Federations said last month a rigorous testing programme would be conducted at the world championships in Daegu in August to establish participants’ biological passport “fingerprint”.