KEY POINTS:
Form cyclist Jeremy Yates will not ride for New Zealand at the Olympic Games in Beijing because of a two-year drugs ban he finished serving last year.
Yates' Games hopes disappeared once the New Zealand Olympic Committee (NZOC) chose to impose strict guidelines on the eligibility of drug
cheats.
The NZOC has informed BikeNZ that the 2000 junior world champion will not be chosen to ride at the Olympics, even if named by the cycling selectors.
BikeNZ high performance director Mark Elliott told Newstalk ZB that the NZOC had clear selection guidelines that any drug offenders must step down for a four-year Olympic cycle.
Elliott said Yates, 25, competed at the 2004 Athens Olympics so had to miss Beijing.
NZOC secretary-general Barry Maister today acknowledged the NZOC's decision meant some might question whether Yates had been punished twice for his offending.
"(But) as far as we're concerned, he is suffering one penalty, in missing out on the Olympic Games."
Maister said no one from the NZOC would apologise for taking a tough stand on drug issues.
"We have no tolerance for them and we want to keep New Zealand as a drugs-free sports culture.
"If an athlete has a positive (drugs) test at or around one Olympic Games, if they serve a mandatory two-year stand down after that, then they can just rock up to the next Games and nothing has changed," Maister told Radio Sport.
"The NZOC feels that because the Olympic Games is a pinnacle event for these athletes that there needs to be some sort of sanction or penalty as far as we're concerned. Missing the next Games is the policy."
Maister said the Games policy had been in place for some time but this was the first time it had had to be implemented.
Elliott said BikeNZ had been open with Yates that the NZOC might not endorse his nomination if his name was put forward.
Yates said he did not learn until January that there was likely to be a problem concerning his eligibility for Beijing.
He was naturally disappointed at the outcome and frustrated it had taken so long for the situation to be clarified.
"I love representing my country and ultimately I paid the highest price (two-year) possible for an athlete who is dedicated to his sport," he told Radio Sport.
"I have served my ban and I - and my family - suffered because of that. I feel I have already paid the price."
Yates finished a two-year ban late last year after testing positive for high levels of testosterone in Belgium in 2004.
He has been performing at a consistently high level since returning to the sport, and finished fifth riding for New Zealand in the international Tour of Langkawi in Malaysia last month.
He was fifth in the Wellington Classic in January, while that same month he came fourth in the national road race and won the four-day Tour de Vineyards near Nelson.
In his first major race after serving the suspension Yates finished eighth in the Tour of Southland last November.
Yates said he had hoped to race in Beijing as a support rider for this country's top road rider Julian Dean.
BikeNZ expects to name its track team for Beijing within the next week while a three-man road team are due to be selected by early June.
- NZPA
