Sanctions for Doping in Sport
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Sanja Mandarić, Veljko Delibašić.
University of Belgrade, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Serbia; Lawyer from Belgrade, Serbia.
indent Abstract
Top-level sport imposes new and more demanding physical and psychological pressures, and the desire for competing, winning and self-assertion leads athletes into temptation to use prohibited substances in order to achieve the best possible results. Regardless of the fact that the adverse consequences of prohibited substances are well-known, prestige and the need to dominate sports arenas have led to their use in sports. Doping is one of the biggest issues in sport today, and the fight against it is a strategic objective on both global and national levels. World Anti-Doping Agency, the International Olympic Committee, international sports federations, national anti-doping agencies, national sports federations, as well as governments and their repressive apparatuses are all involved in the fight against doping in sport. This paper points to a different etymology and phenomenology of doping, the beginnings of doping in sport, sports doping scandals as well as the most important international instruments regulating this issue. Also, there is a special reference in this paper to the criminal and misdemeanor sanctions for doping in sport. In Serbia doping in sport is prohibited by the Law on Prevention of Doping in Sports which came into force in 2005 and which prescribes the measures and activities aimed at prevention of doping in sport. In this context, the law provides for the following three criminal offenses: use of doping substances, facilitating the use of doping substances, and unauthorized production and putting on traffic of doping substances. In addition, aiming at curbing the abuse of doping this law also provides for two violations. More frequent and repetitive doping scandals indicate that doping despite long-standing sanctions is still present in sports, which suggests that sanctions alone have not given satisfactory results so far.
keywords DOPING / SPORT / SANCTIONS / CRIMINAL LAW