With this being a Law & Legislation year for USATF,
now’s a prime time to do our part to fight for clean sport (or cleaner sport at
any rate). There isn’t going to be significant change unless the big sponsors
and big governing bodies start to care. And I think we have a chance to make
USATF act like they care if we craft a decent amendment. My hope is that if we
can change how USATF treats cheating, that will bleed into how the media and
sponsors treat cheating.
Below I’ve started some very rough ideas for a new
amendment. It’s broken into two parts: the changes that USATF will make, and
the rationale for such changes. There is much work to be done on the specifics
desired, and significant work needed on the form of the proposal. Full info on
how to submit a proposal was sent out in a June 1st email blast, and
is reprinted at the bottom of this post.
My hope is that there are a handful have the tools, the
time, and the desire to work together on crafting a tight piece of legislation
that can have a real difference on how USATF treats cheating. Ideally this
group will include lawyers and folks who have been involved in USATF in the
past.
If you are interested in working towards this piece of
legislation, please comment on this post, and we can figure out the best way to
work together (likely a Google doc). Now’s the time to make a difference!
Proposed
Amendment:
•Any athlete who has served a doping ban from USADA, WADA,
the NCAA, or any similar organization, shall be disqualified from discretionary
selection. Such selections include, but are not limited to, non-automatic
selection for relay duty, invitational spots such as USA vs the World at Penn
Relays, Athlete of the Week awards, scholarships and other discretionary
funding, and any other sort of awards/accolades given out by USATF.
Athlete who have served doping bans will still be eligible
earn a spot on USATF teams for international competitions by the standing
automatic qualification procedures (e.g. first-past-the-post we have at
national championships), as in accord with US law. (Note: I’m aware that there are some laws about how our qualifying can’t
be more stringent than IAAF, the Marathon Trials standard change being a prime
example. I think that applies to doping but, if not, we don’t need this bit.)
If US law changes such that we can select our Olympic teams with more stringent
rules than USOC/IAAF rules, then athletes who have served a doping ban will no
longer be eligible to be selected.
•USATF will never select or hire an individual who has
served a doping ban – and this includes as a coach or agent – to any USATF
position. This includes, but is not limited to, team coach, board member, paid
staff, etc.
•Whenever an athlete who has served a doping ban from
USADA, WADA, the NCAA, or any similar organization is mentioned in official
USATF media, there shall be a clear indication that said athlete has served a
doping ban, with a link to the relevant information. The only exception to this
will be automatically collected results pages, provided these results pages are
not manually modified in any other way (e.g. not later annotated to highlight
certain performances).
Example of an acceptable way to note athlete’s doping
history include an asterisk by their name, with ban dates and link to relevant
USADA/IAAF/NCAA press release at bottom of page.
Official USATF media includes, but is not limited to,
press releases, email blasts, tweets/posts/grams, and on-air audio/video.
Question
for discussion: How long should the doping ban
be to disqualify athletes from such discretionary selections? For example,
should someone who’s served a 3-month ban for accidentally ingesting a tainted
meal be treated the same as someone who has served a 4-year ban for intentional
doping? My gut tells me there should be some minimum ban length before all of
this “kicks in”, and that this minimum length may vary by the specific penalty
in question. I’d think the indication of doping ban should apply to any who
have ever served a ban, as the length of the ban can be mentioned in the
indication. The being banned from selection to say, USA vs the World, may need
a longer ban to apply. But maybe not?
Rationale:
We say that we disapprove of cheating, however the
disincentives towards doping aren’t nearly as strong as they could be. While
athletes may miss a few months or, in rare cases, years for their cheating,
they may still reap the rewards courtesy of their sponsors and governing
bodies. USATF has been known to select athletes who have served doping bans for
discretionary awards, to highlight athletes who have served doping bans in
pre-meet coverage, and to hire individuals who have served doping bans for
national team coaching positions. Such actions are a clear indication that
USATF does not care deeply about competing with integrity.
If USATF stops giving athletes who have served a doping
ban awards and accolades – which can have a direct influence on those athlete’s
financial situation from the sport – then there will be a much bigger
disincentive to cheat. An athlete will be less willing to risk getting caught
cheating, as they will no longer only be risking a short time of competition,
but also they’ll be risking their legacy. In addition, sponsors and the media
will be less likely to promote athletes who have served a doping ban if such
athletes are getting much less support from the national body.
While we will never fully stamp out doping, we can do our
part to stop rewarding those who have served doping bans, and show that we do
care about competing with integrity.
USATF email from June 1st reprinted below:
2017 is a Law & Legislation year at this year's USATF Annual Meeting, meaning that general amendment proposals to the Bylaws and Operating Regulations will be considered.
The Law & Legislation Committee requests that amendments be submitted no later than September 1 to allow proper review and submission to USATF members. Amendments must be submitted to Jim Murphy, Law & Legislation Chair, via email to jimjmurphy1@icloud.com, copying Norman Wain, USATF General Counsel: norman.wain@usatf.org.
Amendments may be submitted only by USATF members. All proposed amendments must first be recommended for approval at the time of submission by someone other than the submitter who shall be either a Board member, the chair of any sport, development, or operating committee, any member of the Law & Legislation Committee, the president of any Association, or any officer or the executive director of a national member organization authorized by Article 5-C. The approval must be in writing, dated, and placed on the proposal when submitted. These listed approval parties may submit proposed amendments directly without such an approval.
The Submission must be in the following format to be considered. If it is not, it will be returned. You may enter it in the space below and forward if you wish or cut and paste the format. The submission may be more than one page long:
Name of the Submitter:
USATF #:
Position:
Name of Person recommending it for approval if you are not a designated Recommender (please append a copy of the recommendation):
The Law & Legislation Committee requests that amendments be submitted no later than September 1 to allow proper review and submission to USATF members. Amendments must be submitted to Jim Murphy, Law & Legislation Chair, via email to jimjmurphy1@icloud.com, copying Norman Wain, USATF General Counsel: norman.wain@usatf.org.
Amendments may be submitted only by USATF members. All proposed amendments must first be recommended for approval at the time of submission by someone other than the submitter who shall be either a Board member, the chair of any sport, development, or operating committee, any member of the Law & Legislation Committee, the president of any Association, or any officer or the executive director of a national member organization authorized by Article 5-C. The approval must be in writing, dated, and placed on the proposal when submitted. These listed approval parties may submit proposed amendments directly without such an approval.
The Submission must be in the following format to be considered. If it is not, it will be returned. You may enter it in the space below and forward if you wish or cut and paste the format. The submission may be more than one page long:
Name of the Submitter:
USATF #:
Position:
Name of Person recommending it for approval if you are not a designated Recommender (please append a copy of the recommendation):
- Action requested: Specify the specific location of the Bylaw (e.g. Amend ARTICLE 21 AMENDMENTS.E. Submissions.1. Deadline to submit) or Regulation (Amend REGULATION 16 ADMINISTRATIVE DIVISION.H. Law & Legislation Committee.1. Duties and responsibilities) that you wish to amend. You may submit more than one change on a form provided they are related (e.g. to amend a Bylaw and related Regulation(s). If they are not related, please submit another Amendment Form.
- Proposed amendment: Each submission shall include the proposed amendment in a form showing the entire section, subsection, or paragraph, as the case may be, as it will read if adopted, with all proposed additional language underlined or shaded, and all proposed deleted language containing a line striking thorough the deleted language. Please cut and paste from the Bylaws and Regulations which are on line in the Word format. DO NOT USE TRACK CHANGES since later cutting and pasting eliminates the original language. If you wish to insert a place holder to be considered next year when only tabled items will be considered, you may state that here.
- Rationale: Each submission shall also contain a section called "Rationale" in which the submitted shall explain the proposed improvement or identify the problem the proposed amendment would correct, why the problem exists, and how the proposed amendment will correct the problem identified. The submitter shall also provide an analysis of whether the proposed amendment will conflict with any other provisions of the Bylaws or Regulations.
- Constituencies affected: Each submission shall also contain a section titled "Constituencies Affected" in which the submitter shall state which constituencies of USATF will be affected by the proposed changes and how they will be affected. Finally, the submitter shall explain how the change advances the mission and operation of USATF.
- Estimated budget impact: Each submission shall also contain a section titled "Estimated Budget Impact." If there is a budgetary impact, it shall be estimated with the submission. The submitter shall consult with the Director of Finance who, in conjunction with the Treasurer and/or the chair of the Budget Committee of the Board, shall assist with developing the estimated budget impact. National Office Management shall be provided with the legislative proposals in a timely manner.
