Pound: UCI knew drug testing was flawed
Source: AFP |
October 16, 2012, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
CYCLING'S governing body set up a drug testing system that was designed to fail and allow Lance Armstrong and other riders to avoid detection, the former boss of the World Anti-Doping Agency claimed.
Doping officials knowingly ran a testing regimen that the sport's top teams circumvented and where competitors would be tipped-off in advance, Richard Pound, who headed up the WADA between 1999 and 2007, said.
Despite alleging eight years ago that cheating was rife, his complaints to the UCI (International Cycling Union) about the sport's anti-doping measures were repeatedly ignored, Pound said.
"It is not credible that they didn't know this was going on," Pound said.
"I had been complaining to UCI for years. They come in in the morning at 5.00am and do tests then go away, and riders are not chaperoned.
"The race starts at 1.00pm to 2.00pm in the afternoon and there are no tests prior to race to see if they are bumped up," adding that after a day in the saddle, riders would be unchaperoned for an hour before being tested again.
"So then you go in and get saline solutions and other means of hiding the effects (of performance-enhancing drug) EPO and whatever else it is," he said.
"You have to say 'I wonder if it was designed not to be successful?'" Pound said of the system, lambasting the UCI, which is under attack in the wake of a US Anti-Doping Agency report on Armstrong. The report detailed Armstrong's alleged use of testosterone, human growth hormone, blood doping and EPO and included sworn statements from 26 people, including 11 former teammates. The sports agency said Armstrong orchestrated the most complex doping scheme in sports history.
Pound, a Canadian lawyer turned sports official whose reported comments in 2004 about alleged doping earned a rebuke from Armstrong, said the buck must stop with the UCI.
"If they persist with denial then they put their whole sport in jeopardy," he said.
Pound, in reference to the USADA report, said he was dismayed by the scope and vivid details of the alleged doping practises by Armstrong and his US Postal Service teammates.
"I don't think it is credible for Armstrong to say 'all 26 of these people are liars and cheats and axe grinders,'" the former WADA president said, adding Armstrong should also speak out against the use of drugs, not just for himself but his five children.
"What are his kids going to think of him? They are going to carry around this burden," Pound said.
Doping officials knowingly ran a testing regimen that the sport's top teams circumvented and where competitors would be tipped-off in advance, Richard Pound, who headed up the WADA between 1999 and 2007, said.
Despite alleging eight years ago that cheating was rife, his complaints to the UCI (International Cycling Union) about the sport's anti-doping measures were repeatedly ignored, Pound said.
"It is not credible that they didn't know this was going on," Pound said.
"I had been complaining to UCI for years. They come in in the morning at 5.00am and do tests then go away, and riders are not chaperoned.
"The race starts at 1.00pm to 2.00pm in the afternoon and there are no tests prior to race to see if they are bumped up," adding that after a day in the saddle, riders would be unchaperoned for an hour before being tested again.
"So then you go in and get saline solutions and other means of hiding the effects (of performance-enhancing drug) EPO and whatever else it is," he said.
"You have to say 'I wonder if it was designed not to be successful?'" Pound said of the system, lambasting the UCI, which is under attack in the wake of a US Anti-Doping Agency report on Armstrong. The report detailed Armstrong's alleged use of testosterone, human growth hormone, blood doping and EPO and included sworn statements from 26 people, including 11 former teammates. The sports agency said Armstrong orchestrated the most complex doping scheme in sports history.
Pound, a Canadian lawyer turned sports official whose reported comments in 2004 about alleged doping earned a rebuke from Armstrong, said the buck must stop with the UCI.
"If they persist with denial then they put their whole sport in jeopardy," he said.
Pound, in reference to the USADA report, said he was dismayed by the scope and vivid details of the alleged doping practises by Armstrong and his US Postal Service teammates.
"I don't think it is credible for Armstrong to say 'all 26 of these people are liars and cheats and axe grinders,'" the former WADA president said, adding Armstrong should also speak out against the use of drugs, not just for himself but his five children.
"What are his kids going to think of him? They are going to carry around this burden," Pound said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
