From Inside the Games

International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Sebastian Coe has pledged not to abandon attempts to introduce lifetime bans for convicted doping cheats following Justin Gatlin’s World Championships 100 metres victory here last night.

The Briton warned, however, that such a move would be dependent on a change to the World Anti-Doping Code which the IAAF, like all Olympic International Federations, are bound by.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) President Sir Craig Reedie has since told insidethegames that any change to the current ruling of a four-year ban for a first offence is unlikely to be considered until the 2019 World Conference on Doping in Sport in Katowice in Poland.

Even then, he added, this will only happen if there is sufficient support from national anti-doping bodies and, just as importantly, a proposal that would stand up to legal scrutiny.

This has always proved impossible in the past due to the principle of proportionality.

Gatlin was loudly booed as he triumphed in a time of 9.92sec here last night to become the oldest world or Olympic 100m champion in history after returning from two separate drugs suspensions earlier in his career.

The 35-year-old American received a two-year ban, reduced on a appeal, after a positive test for amphetamines in 2001 before a second suspension, reduced to eight and then four years, after a failure for testosterone.

There was confusion today over when Gatlin was due to receive his medal.

According to the official London 2017 website, the medal ceremony was scheduled to be at 8pm tonight when the Olympic Stadium on the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park would be full.

It was, according to the offiical London 2017 website, a “supergold” medal ceremony.

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