<p>The IOC executive board and the athletes' commission said after a joint meeting they supported the rule under which more than 40 athletes will not be able to compete in 2012 in London.<br /><br />Merritt, the 400m Olympic champion in 2008, is serving a 21-month ban for using a male enhancement product. The ban expires in July and he is eligible to compete at the world championships - but not at the Olympics, which the American intends to contest before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.<br /><br />"The rule applies. It shows the full resolve of the IOC in the fight against doping and demonstrates that Olympic athletes serve as role models worldwide," said IOC vice-president Thomas Bach of Germany, who heads the IOC juridical commission.<br /><br />Bach did not want to speculate on a possible CAS verdict, but said the rule had the full backing of the athletes' commission and was no second punishment as implied by its critics.<br />"It is not a sanction. It is a condition of participation. The IOC is governing the Olympic Games and has the right to put conditions for participation," Bach said.<br /><br />The strict IOC rule was decided upon in 2007 and went into effect a year later ahead of the Beijing Games.</p>
<p>The IOC executive board and the athletes' commission said after a joint meeting they supported the rule under which more than 40 athletes will not be able to compete in 2012 in London.<br /><br />Merritt, the 400m Olympic champion in 2008, is serving a 21-month ban for using a male enhancement product. The ban expires in July and he is eligible to compete at the world championships - but not at the Olympics, which the American intends to contest before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.<br /><br />"The rule applies. It shows the full resolve of the IOC in the fight against doping and demonstrates that Olympic athletes serve as role models worldwide," said IOC vice-president Thomas Bach of Germany, who heads the IOC juridical commission.<br /><br />Bach did not want to speculate on a possible CAS verdict, but said the rule had the full backing of the athletes' commission and was no second punishment as implied by its critics.<br />"It is not a sanction. It is a condition of participation. The IOC is governing the Olympic Games and has the right to put conditions for participation," Bach said.<br /><br />The strict IOC rule was decided upon in 2007 and went into effect a year later ahead of the Beijing Games.</p>