Victoria Pendleton has given her firm backing to the British Olympic Association (BOA)'s lifetime ban for drug cheats, claiming the risk of reoffending is too great for the ruling to be changed.
The BOA is the only national committee in the world still imposing a lifetime Olympic ban on athletes who have served a doping suspension of six months or longer. Their stance has been deemed to be "non-compliant" with the World Anti-Doping Agency's global code and the case is set to be decided by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The Stotfold cyclist said: "Personally, I have always been of the opinion that if you were prepared to cheat once then you could perhaps be tempted again, so I agree with the lifetime ban"
Cycling superstar Mark Cavendish, the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year, has expressed his hope David Millar - who admitted taking a performance-enhancing drug in 2004, served a two-year suspension from the sport and remains subject to the BOA ban - will be able to take part in London 2012 this summer.
As far as Olympic track cycling gold medallist Pendleton is concerned, though, the BOA have got it right.
She added: "I think if you have gone there in your sporting career, there is no guarantee - you might say that you would never do it again, but I don't know. It's kind of a personality trait thing for me.
"I've always struggled with people doing that. Within my sport there is always a huge amount of debate about performance-enhancing drugs and it is something that really frustrates the hell out of me. I am somebody who would like to keep it as it is - fair and square, a level playing field."
Regarding her own participation in London, Pendleton is still aiming to compete in three events - the individual sprint, in which she was crowned champion at Beijing 2008, the Keirin and the team sprint.
"I am going to try to go for three events," she said.
"The training is very similar for all three, so if my form is good and I'm going well, it would be crazy not to give them all a shot. I do them in a much shorter, compact programme at the World Championships and I have won all three in the past, so I know it is possible if you are going well to do that."
