LAUSANNE, SWITZERLAND — In what appears to be a concession to critics, the World Anti-Doping Agency said Wednesday it plans to grant greater leeway to doping prosecutors and judges to reduce sanctions against athletes accused of drug violations deemed to be accidental or trivial.
The proposed change would apply only in cases involving detected stimulants, but the action represents a sea change in WADA's approach to enforcement.
The agency had held rigorously to a "strict liability" policy, treating as a serious violation the presence of any banned substance in an athlete's body, even at concentrations too low to affect performance.
A Times investigation disclosed in December that WADA policies resulted in numerous instances of severe sanctions against athletes for minor and unwitting ingestion of banned substances. Among the cases:
* Alpine skier Alain Baxter used a Vicks Vapor Inhaler bought in Utah to treat his chronic nasal congestion. Unlike the Vicks inhalers sold at home in Britain, the American version contained traces of a chemical structurally related to methamphetamine, a banned stimulant. Baxter was forced to forfeit his bronze medal won at the 2002 Winter Games.
* American Zach Lund, a world-class skeleton sled racer, was found to have traces of finasteride, an ingredient in anti-baldness medication, in his urine in 2005. The substance had been banned over concerns that it might mask the presence of steroids in urine samples. He lost all his sponsorships and was suspended from competition for one year.
* U.S. sprinter Torri Edwards unknowingly ingested an obscure additive called nikethamide in a couple of otherwise innocent glucose tablets she took at an exhibition race. She was suspended for two years.
The proposed amendment to the World Anti-Doping Code would partially address rising complaints from international sports officials and anti-doping organizations, many of whom have recommended more far-reaching reforms.
"You end up feeling a bit awkward about imposing a two-year sanction on someone who, when all is said and done, wasn't doping," WADA President Dick Pound said.
Pound, a noted hard-liner on sports doping, continued to insist that most doping cases result from deliberate drug use. He also seemed intent on playing down effects of the proposed amendment.
"This is not a free ride for anyone," he said of the proposal for more flexibility in sanctions.
