• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Pound says doping issue spells danger for sport's future

Posted on: Sunday, 2 July 2006, 05:04 CDT

LONDON (Reuters) - Cycling must take action over doping in the sport or risk losing future competitors, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said on Sunday.

"The image of your sport and right now your flagship event (the Tour de France) is in the toilet and you've got to do something about it or the risk is that your sport will be ignored by everybody, marginalized by others and it won't be sport any more," WADA chairman Dick Pound said on BBC Radio.

"Under these circumstances, if I had a child who showed some potential in this I'd say 'it appears that if you want to get to the top of this sport you've got to use all these drugs and why don't we find some other sport for you'," he added.

The Tour de France was stripped of three of it's main contenders on the eve of the race on Friday when 1997 winner Jan Ullrich, Giro d'Italia champion Ivan Basso and Francisco Mancebo were implicated in a doping investigation in Spain.

Ullrich's team mate Oscar Sevilla was also withdrawn and the Astana-Wuerth team, formerly known as Liberty Seguras, pulled out because five of their riders were on a list of Tour competitors provided by Spanish police.

The International Cycling Union (UCI) said it could not be assumed all nine Tour riders were guilty of doping offences, while Italy's Basso and German Ullrich have stated they are the victims in the investigation and expect to be cleared.

CLINICAL DENIAL

The doping scandal erupted last month after the Spanish Civil Guard raided a number of addresses and found large quantities of anabolic steroids, laboratory equipment used for blood transfusions and more than 100 packs of frozen blood.

"I think cycling generally has been pretty close to clinical denial about the extent of the problem in this sport and now this is open for the entire world to see," Pound said.

"I think if they resolve to actually do something about it they have a chance to take some steps that they haven't been able to in the past."

The latest affair is reminiscent of the Festina case in 1998, which brought to light the use of the blood-boosting drug erythropoietin (EPO) among riders.

Seven-times King of the Mountains winner Richard Virenque of France was handed a nine-month ban after admitting to doping offences.

Last year's Tour of Spain winner Roberto Heras was banned for two years in November after testing positive for EPO during that stage race.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category