Cycling has been brought to its knees enduring a torrid Tour de France with three separate doping scandals, while athletics has also suffered in recent weeks.

 

Indoor 800m world record holder Jolana Ceplak has been suspended after testing positive for EPO while women's hammer world record holder Tatiana Lysenko tested positive for a hormone blocker, although the substance is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency banned list.

 

"I will be pushing very hard for four year bans and pressing WADA very hard on this," Coe told the Daily Telegraph in an interview published today.

 

But the former Olympic champion also expressed doubts about the suggestion of anti-doping campaigner Professor Arne Ljunqvist that Britain should introduce tough new legislation to criminalise drugs in sport.

 

"My experience tells me that you need to tread very carefully before you go down the road of criminalisation as they have in Italy and France," Coe continued.

 

"People take EPO and steroids to cheat but you've got to be careful that your first response is not that if you're a cocaine addict you throw away the keys.

 

"The first response is to help someone back to a normalised existence.

 

"That is a view shared by IOC President Jacques Rogge. He thinks this takes a lot of more thought than just criminalisation."

 

World Anti-Doping Agency president Dick Pound welcomed Coe's comments saying they have been looking at four year bans for some time.

 

"We certainly would not disagree with what Seb is saying," Pound said.

 

"For some time now we have been moving towards a four year ban in aggravated cases.

 

"The extent of the problem of doping is now so great and the scientific evidence of the benefit is more persuasive than when we first set the two year limit.

 

"We now know, for example, that the advantages of using steroids go way beyond two years.

 

"You only have to look at what has happened in the Tour de France this year to realise there is a need for tougher penalties.

 

"Those guys just don't care."

 

Pound also supported Coe's hesitancy over criminalising doping, suggesting the need to target drug supplies.

 

"I am not sure that athletes should go to jail for breaking rules in sport," Pound continued.

 

"It's like a bad tackle in football. I think legislation should be looking to target the enablers and the supply chain, not the actual competitors.

 

"Besides the amount of time it takes to actually get a conviction is too long. The nature of sport requires you to remove cheats quickly."

 

The full article can be read at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2007/07/28/soscoe128.xml.