Should a doping ban = a life sentence?

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After the winner of the men’s 100m sprint, Justin Gatlin, was booed at the London World Athletics Championships this month, I was asked by Canberra’s 2CCradio Breakfast Show host, Tim Shaw: ‘Should sports doping cheats be banned for life?’. Gatlin has served two doping bans, but denies ever having cheated. Clearly there was some doubt about the veracity of that denial in the minds of the spectators, and many of the commentators, but their response also serves to demonstrate the challenges caused by what McDermott (2016) calls the anti-doping ‘moral panic’ leading to the vilification of athletes for the remainder of their lives.