Hundreds of drug cheats will benefit from the postponement of this summer's Olympics as they will now be eligible to compete in the rearranged Games.
World Anti-Doping Agency president Witold Banka says bans are determined by a set time and not what competitions athletes might miss.
He said in the Times: "A ban is about the length of time, it is not dedicated to concrete sports events and if they happen or not.
"There is no provision in the code for anti-doping organisations to cherry-pick periods of time in which the athlete would have more or fewer events to compete in.
"While an athlete cannot choose when he or she would like to be ineligible, an anti-doping organisation cannot either."
The new Games, postponed for the first time in history because of the coronavirus pandemic, are set to start on July 23, 2021.
