Athletics took a determined step towards the reintroduction of four-year doping bans yesterday when the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Congress approved the move recommended by its Council.

The IAAF cut its ban for first-time doping offenders from four to two years in 1997 to bring it in line with other international bodies but increasing disillusionment with the current situation has led to a u-turn, even though it might isolate the sport from others less inclined to adopt the stricter ban approach.

“The new WADA (world anti-doping agency) Code, which will come into force on Jan. 1, 2015, will reflect our firm commitment to have tougher penalties and the IAAF will return to four-year sanctions for serious doping offences,” the IAAF said in a statement after its council met yesterday.

“The IAAF has an ethical obligation to the overwhelming majority of athletes and officials who believe in clean sport.

“As a leader in this fight the IAAF has built and delivers a programme that is well resourced, far reaching, sophisticated and increasingly able to detect and remove from the sport those who breach our anti-doping rules.”

Athletics has recently been again hard-hit by a string of doping cases, ranging from high-profile athletes like Tyson Gay, Asafa Powell and Veronica Campbell-Brown to multiple positive tests returned in Turkey, including some athletes as young as 17.