Paris--International athletics needs stronger legal weapons to tackle doping cheats, pole vault legend Sergey Bubka said Wednesday as he launched his campaign for the IAAF presidency against Britain's Sebastian Coe.
The 51-year-old Ukrainian also said that athletics should consider events with men and women competing against each other, but insisted the sport must be defended from cuts for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as new sports press for places.
Bubka was part of the International Olympic Committee athletes commission that a decade ago started pressing for coaches and other staff around athletes to be punished for doping offences.
Bubka has called doping one of the biggest dangers to 21st century sport. But he said legal restrictions had held back efforts to impose the punishments that athletes wanted.
"It was a very very complicated issue because from a legal point of view you would like to do many more sanctions, you would like to do more punishment."
But Buka told a video press conference from Ukraine that this had always created legal and human rights issues.
"We need to work together, we need to study legally how we can strengthen our position, in which way we can put sanctions, if we need to put sanctions on a national federation which violates," he said in answer to a question on whether Russia should face special action over a widespread doping scandal to hit is sports.
"Who is cheating will be punished, no exception for cheaters," Bubka said, vowing "zero tolerance" if successful in the election.
But the six-time world pole vault champion said tougher sanctions need "deep study." Many federations are just introducing four year bans for drug cheats and legal challenges are expected.
AFP
