U.S. doping chief says international cycling board stalled probe
BY Associated Press
Thursday, January 31, 2013
1/31/13 at 5:21 AM
BERLIN (AP) - The International Cycling Union did all it could to stall its doping investigation into Lance Armstrong, U.S. Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart said Wednesday.
"At every turn, the UCI attempted to obstruct our efforts to reveal the truth," Tygart told a special hearing of the Bundestag sports committee.
He added that the cycling body still "appears to be irresponsibly trying to script a self-interested ending to this affair."
Tygart said the UCI's actions highlighted the need for doping agencies to have "true independence" to avoid any conflicts of interest arising from running the sport.
USADA fulfills its duties to catch drug cheats because "it does not have a conflicting duty to also protect the image of the sport it serves, or of commercial factors such as obligations to sponsors, owners or investors," he said. "I was shocked that (sporting) federations here still handle doping cases. It's what we call the fox guarding the hen house."
Germany's National Anti-Doping Agency is headed by politicians responsible for sport, along with members of the German Olympic Sports Confederation and other sporting groups.
Original Print Headline: U.S. doping chief says cycling board stalled
