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Scots lift ban on David Millar for 2010 Commonwealth Games

Millar free to ride in time trial and road race in Delhi 2010… Olympic ban still stands though

Commonwealth Games Scotland (CGS) has lifted the lifetime ban it imposed on David Millar which will allow him to compete for his country in the road race and time trial at next year's Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Millar had appealed against the lifetime ban imposed by the organisation in the light of his 2004 ban for using EPO, Millar's strong anti-doping stance since admitting his use of EPO was given as the reason for the rescinding of his lifetime ban. The Scots rider has been vocal in his denunciations of doping and dopers in cycling, he currently rides for the US Garmin Transitions team which is noted within the sport for the strong stance it takes on doping, Millar is also the British representative on the World AntiDoping Agency's (WADA) athlete's panel.

In a statement confirming the decision, Jon Doig, CGS Chief Executive said: “The CGS Board felt that since his return to cycling David has become an active campaigner and educator about doping in sport and has gone to great lengths to rehabilitate himself and share his experiences with others in an attempt to promote the anti-doping message. David has now been cleared to compete for Scotland in Delhi subject to achieving the necessary performance selection standards.”

Welcoming the news Millar said: “I am absolutely delighted with the decision. It would be an honour to race for Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi and to give something back to the country that has given me so much. I am proud to be a Scot and feel that I have been supported incredibly through the bad times as well as the good by Scotland.
 
“I made mistakes as a younger athlete in a dirty sport, and I will have to live with those mistakes for the rest of my life, but I have changed and I know I bring something beneficial to not only cycling but also sport as a whole.  
 
“I have been so pro-active in my fight against doping because I believe I can make a difference, and I also believe that the mistakes I made as an athlete were fully preventable.  If the example I now give and education I provide can prevent a younger version of me from making the same mistakes I made than I could not ask for more.”

If he is selected for the Scottish team, and so long as he remains injury free that seems pretty much a given, Millar told Richard Moore in The Guardian that he would be targetting the time trial in Delhi but he would also hope to compete in the road race. A measure of how seriously he is taking the chance to represent his country is his insistence that he will use the Vuelta as a warm-up event for Delhi. In an intriguing aside it would seem that Millar was encouraged to appeal against the life ban by Scottish Cycling.

While next year's Commonweath Games now looks a very realistic prospect for the Garmin Transitions rider, his chances of representing Great Britain still look slim. The British Olympic Authority also imposed a lifetime ban on him and they take a hardline stance on matters as last year's unsuccessful attempt by the sprinter Dwain Chambers to get his life ban over turned demonstrated.

road.cc's founder and first editor, nowadays to be found riding a spreadsheet. Tony's journey in cycling media started in 1997 as production editor and then deputy editor of Total Bike, acting editor of Total Mountain Bike and then seven years as editor of Cycling Plus. He launched his first cycling website - the Cycling Plus Forum at the turn of the century. In 2006 he left C+ to head up the launch team for Bike Radar which he edited until 2008, when he co-launched the multi-award winning road.cc - finally handing on the reins in 2021 to Jack Sexty. His favourite ride is his ‘commute’ - which he does most days inc weekends and he’s been cycle-commuting since 1994. His favourite bikes are titanium and have disc brakes, though he'd like to own a carbon bike one day.

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billiobob | 14 years ago
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Using the same logic then no offender should ever be regarded as being rehabilitated, no-one should appeal against any sentence,life imprisonment should always be until you die etc. To quote John Cooper Clarke erstwhile Salford poet "Bring back hanging for everyone".

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kittyfondue | 14 years ago
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"I have been so pro-active in my fight against doping because I believe I can make a difference, and I also believe that the mistakes I made as an athlete were fully preventable. If the example I now give and education I provide can prevent a younger version of me from making the same mistakes I made than I could not ask for more.”

I think it would make a bigger statement for DM NOT to appeal against these bans - like most of the people posting already, I believe a lifetime ban is a lifetime ban. He did make mistakes and he was welcomed back into the peloton but surely if a young rider knows that when you're banned from other types of competitions, those stick forever no matter how rehabilitated you are, might give them pause for thought if they were contemplating doping.

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hammergonewest | 14 years ago
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But he didn't get a lifetime ban from his sport's governing body - he got two years. The life ban was from the British Olympic Association and Commonwealth Games Scotland stopping him from representing Great Britain or Scotland at the Olympics or Commonwealth Games - a two year ban would be pretty meaningless in their cases it's got to be said.

As I understand it from the story, it was his sport's governing body in Scotland, Scottish Cycling, that suggested he appeal the ban in the first place.

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radar | 14 years ago
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Shouldn't he be riding for Malta?

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Chuffy replied to radar | 14 years ago
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Hmmmm. Lifetime bans should do what they say on the tin, and I would count myself as one of Millar's fans. Athletes appealing against (deserved) punishments undermine the authority of the governing body.

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DaSy | 14 years ago
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A lifetime ban should be just that, Millar did take EPO and there is no doubt about that, and I think the fact that he has managed to salvage a Pro career should be enough for him.

If you make those bad decisions in your career you should be prepared to live with the consequences.

People being caught for doping now are being vilified by public and press alike, Millar did admit it, but I still think he should have been left off Olympic and Commonwealth squads.

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