Speaking from Lausanne at the conclusion of the International Olympic Committee's executive board meeting, Coates stressed the need for patience and due process in doping investigations which did not involve positive samples.

"I'm not surprised it's taken this long," said Coates.

"I do understand how difficult a process it must have been for (ASADA). These scenarios are not as black and white as people think and ASADA needs to be absolutely satisfied there has been a violation before they move to the next stage.

"This is a very different situation, but the Lance Armstrong case took that national body two years to complete."

Australia's most senior Olympic official reinforced his view that all athletes remained responsible for the substances they ingested, whether or not they intended to cheat.

"I can understand this view from the big team sports and from what we've seen from Cronulla and Essendon that the clubs needed to show a greater duty of care to their athletes,"  Coates told Fairfax Media. "But these are professional athletes and they are responsible for what they ingest. They have got enough advice. They make the decision ultimately to take the substance.

"At the 2000 Sydney Games, we had a 16-year-old gymnast Andreea Raducan, who took a tablet from her team doctor for a cold and tested positive. She was stripped of her gold medal. Everyone should be well aware of the rules."

Coates said another lesson from the AFL and NRL scandals was that the clubs and support staff involved had not taken enough responsibility for those scandals.

"The clubs should and the coaches and the doctors should accept a greater responsibility for what they allowed to take place," he said.

"The new rules to soon be enforced will help change that. The sports here might be saying they will no longer deal with Stephen Dank, but from January 1 the situation will be more definitive."

Next month's national executive meeting in Melbourne will see the AOC formally adopt coercive powers forcing Australian Olympians picked for the Rio Games and beyond, to co-operate with anti-doping authorities, in a new ruling to be introduced even before the World Anti-Doping Authority moves to follow suit from January 1.

The new year will also see ASADA and WADA empowered to ban coaches, doctors and other support staff implicated in doping cases. In August, Coates described those entourages involved as being "a scourge on sport".