One of the problems with the more draconian punishments for doping is that they raise the burden of proof to almost unworkable levels.
If you are going to destroy someone’s career and reputation, fine them thousands of pounds or even jail them, then you have to be 110 per cent sure they are guilty.
The current state of testing procedures means that this is often not possible.
And you can guarantee that the dopers we really want to catch – the medal winning, record breaking, money earning ones – will have expensive lawyers ready to jump on the slightest slip in procedure.
A more workable solution might be something that some cycling teams are introducing – the ‘medical withdrawal’. Riders are subject to regular blood monitoring. Any anomalies, such as large rises in haematocrit or reticulocyte levels (indicative of EPO) or total blood volume (indicative of blood doping) leads to the rider being withdrawn from competition for a couple of months while the reasons are investigated. Obviously a rider who is continually being withdrawn is of no value to the team and is quickly offloaded.
Long-term storage of the blood samples would also get around the problem of the testers always being a year or two behind the dopers.