The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) has called for the resignation of cyclist Stuart O’Grady from its Athletes’ Commission after he admitted using performance enhancing drugs at the 1998 Tour de France.
The AOC Secretary-General, Craig Phillips, has contacted O’Grady by email asking for his immediate resignation.
"Members of our London Olympic Team who elected Stuart to the Athletes’ Commission are entitled to be angry knowing they had supported an athlete who had cheated" AOC President John Coates said today.
" Athletes’ Commission members are chosen for their qualities of integrity and leadership and by his admission Stuart does not deserve to be a member of that group" Coates said.
Coates fully supports the French Parliamentary Inquiry into the use of drugs in sport which has named 30 riders they allege were involved in doping at the 1998 Tour.
Samples taken at the 1998 race were re-tested in 2004 and showed traces of the blood booster Erythropoetin or EPO. Anti-doping investigators then passed that information to the Inquiry.
"This was a shameful period for the sport of cycling which has been well documented, that is no excuse for the decision taken by Stuart O’Grady, and one can only hope that cycling and especially the Tour de France is cleaner as a result of today’s revelations and the Lance Armstrong saga".
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