THE 2014 track athletics season is effectively over.

This morning a 32-year-old two-time convicted doping cheat stands at the top of the world 100 and 200 metres rankings. Justin Gatlin is the first man over the age of 30 to have done so. The fact that these are the fastest times of his career - he was Olympic 100m champion in 2004 - is further compelling evidence not just for revision of penalties for doping offences, but for imposing a life ban for such cheats.

No sprinter has run the fastest time of his life a decade after having been crowned Olympic champion, but the American is No.1 at 100m with a time of 9.77 seconds and at 200m with 19.68. Six people have run 9.77 or quicker. All but one (Usain Bolt) have served a doping suspension.

The World Anti-Doping Agency has recently brokered doubling of the two-year ban to four. It will come into force in January, but is it long enough?

Gatlin's first offence was as a teenager. Because he was under the jurisdiction of the US college system, the International Association of Athletic Federations was impotent. They could exclude him only from international competition. Thus he became US junior champion at 100, 200 and 110m hurdles and retained his NCAA titles while excluded by the IAAF. However, when he subsequently tested positive for steroids, an eight-year ban was imposed, in line with WADA rules. Yet it was reduced to four on appeal by US authorities.

Undaunted, Gatlin, world 100 and 200m champion in 2005, has now returned to run faster than in his drug-fuelled prime. How can this be?

We believe the following tale of mice and men may explain how.

In 2010 the Washington-based Science News published Oslo University research, the most compelling conclusion of which was that: "Effects of previous strength training can be long-lived, even after prolonged subsequent inactivity, and retraining is facilitated by a previous training episode. Anabolic steroids . . . may also have implications for exclusion periods after a doping offence."

The heading on the story was: "Performance enhancement from doping is for life and not just for Christmas". We recalled this in December 2011, when the British Olympic Association took the case of sprinter Dwain Chambers to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, hoping to block his inclusion in Team GB. CAS failed to act, leaving Chambers, and other convicted cheats from the brotherhood of the needle (such as cyclist David Millar and thrower Carl Myerscough) free to be included in the London 2012 team to the exclusion of honest athletes - a gross abrogation of sport's duty of care and a shocking betrayal of those who compete legitimately.

Chambers, fourth behind Gatlin in the 2004 Olympic 100m final, came back after his suspension to win the world indoor 60m title in 2010 and was timed that year over 100m at just 0.02sec slower than his pre-ban best of 9.97. He competed in London 2012, was a world indoor finalist this year, and by claiming the UK title at 36 he qualified for the European Championships. The durability of their careers is freakish.

Myerscough had a shot putt best of 19.46m before he failed a dope test in 2000. He has bettered this in 11 of 12 seasons since having served his suspension. His best is now 21.92m.

We must presume previous offenders such as Millar (Commonwealth gold medallist for Scotland), Myerscough, Chambers and Gatlin are now rigorously tested. This hardly constitutes epedemiological research, but their post-suspension performances present increasingly strong evidence that they and others cheats are still reaping the benefits of doping.

Last year further Norwegian research was reported in the Journal of Physiology. We interviewed Oslo University's Professor Kristian Gundersen who said: "The results in our mice may correspond to the effects of steroids lasting for decades in humans, given the same cellular 'muscle memory' mechanism . . . It is rare in my experience to get such clear-cut results."

We ran the story [30/10/13] under the heading: "Further proof that life bans for steroid abusers would be justified." It explained how, after withdrawal of steroids, on restarting load exercise, mice muscles grew by 30% in six days. Those of untreated mice grew insignificantly.

I always marvelled at how, on returning from his suspension, and presumably foresworn his daily performance-enhancement cocktails, Chambers still looked ripped, the epitome of Clive James's peerless "condom stuffed with walnuts".

The Oslo research indicates that even without drugs, cell nuclei still respond to lessons learned years earlier. This prompted WADA to help bankroll the university's microbiology programme. Despite the results, last night WADA could not confirm whether they would push for longer than the current four-year ban.

They may care to consider that athletes, while not competing at all (and consequently not subject to testing) but training with the intensity of an Olympic contender, might benefit from a couple of years on steroids before beginning their competitive careers. Stronger deterence is essential.

Prof Gundersen was in the news again yesterday. Expanding on his Herald interview last October, he said on BBC TV that the effects of steroids could last for decades. "Four years is too short," he said. Later comments on Five Live suggest Gatlin is still benefiting from his former doping regime.

Gatlin recorded six of the world's seven best 100m times this year, including the fastest ever one-night 100/200m double (9.77 and 19.71) in far short of favourable conditions on a damp evening in Brussels. His inclusion among candidates for the World Athlete of the Year award is an affront. It has prompted some of the voting panel to decline to participate, and for Olympic and world discus champion Robert Harting to request his name be withdrawn altogether.