All doped in Lance era: WADA
24 Oct 2012 3:44 PM IST
World Anti-Doping Agency chief John Fahey said on Tuesday that ‘everybody doped’ in cycling during the Lance Armstrong era and the sport's administrators at the time should take some responsibility. The US rider's epic fall concluded on Monday with the loss of seven Tour de France titles, leaving the sport grasping for a way to move past a drug-tainted past.
International Cycling Union (UCI) supported the findings of USADA which branded Armstrong the central figure in a sophisticated, systematic doping scheme. Fahey said those in charge at the time must bear some responsibility. ‘There was a period of time in which the culture of cycling was that everybody doped. There is no doubt about that. The administrators have to take some responsibility for that. Is that period gone? That's something which I think the jury is out on and I think UCI are meeting this Friday to consider a number of aspects, including what their response must be, going forward,’ the Australian told a radio channel.
In all, 26 people, including 11 former teammates, told USADA that Armstrong and his team used and trafficked in banned drugs and also used blood transfusions, and that Armstrong pressured others to do so. In a separate interview with Australia's Fox Sports, Fahey said cycling would only regain credibility when the senior officials on watch during the ‘debacle’ were removed. ‘Looking back, clearly the doping was widespread,’ he said. ‘If that doping was widespread, then the question is legitimately put: 'Who was stopping it? Who was working against it? Why wasn't it stopped?' I think it's relevant to ask those questions,’ he added.
Fahey said anyone involved during the Armstrong years could not justify their place in the sport's hierarchy at UCI. ‘It's not a question of simply saying we'll rule off the line and go on. They clearly have to take the blinkers off, look at the past, examine the people who are there, ask themselves the questions: 'Are those same people still in the sport and can they proceed forward with those people remaining? I don't think there's any credibility if they don't do that,’ he said.
WADA ‘ENCOURAGED’ BY UCI STANCE
Cycling's decision to cast out Lance Armstrong left WADA chief John Fahey ‘encouraged’ that sport's biggest doping scandal was drawing to ‘a correct conclusion.’ ‘WADA is encouraged that UCI feels it can use this case as a catalyst to thoroughly clean up its sport and remove any remaining vestiges of the doping programs that have clearly damaged cycling. All indications are, so far, that USADA have done everything correctly. And UCI have also acted correctly,’ Fahey said in a statement.
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