U.S. Anti-Doping Agency Open to Reducing Armstrong Ban

(ATR) USADA says it is open to a reduction in Lance Armstrong’s life ban if the disgraced cyclist were to cooperate fully with its investigation.

Travis Tygart, chief executive of USADA, addressed delegates at the Leaders Sports Summit in London on Thursday.

He provided USADA's report on Armstrong and his sophisticated doping program inside the US Postal team, which led to the cyclist being stripped of all competitive results since 1998, including seven Tour de France titles. Armstrong finally admitted to the charges in January 2013 and by USADA handed down a lifetime ban which was later endorsed by the International Cycling Union (UCI).

But Tygart refused to rule out the possibility that Armstrong’s suspension could be reduced.

"I absolutely hope he comes forward," he said. "I think everyone deserves a second chance.

"The rules have to be enforced; there’s a lifetime ban in place, there is some discretion to reduce it but I hope for everyone that goes through something like he did, made the choices that he made, that they find not just the lip-service to redeem themselves, but take action to help clean up the sport.

"We were extremely disappointed - it was the most frustrating day of the investigation - back in June 2012 when he refused to come in because we thought at that point, with the momentum that was built up with all his former team-mates, that this would’ve been a cascade for the benefit of clean athletes."

Tygart added: "But we’re slowly plugging along to get to that point where the sport really changes and obviously we hope he’s a part of that at some point."

Armstrong is currently being investigated by the Department of Justice which is pursuing tens of millions of dollars in sponsorship for US Postal Service, alongside USADA’s continuing probe into doping in cycling.

Tygart doubted whether the dictatorship of Armstrong and his cohorts in their doping system would ever be seen again.

But he did suggest that other sports, particularly Olympic sports, were not being vigilant enough in enforcing anti-doping measures.

"That’s really the question for Olympic sports around the world: are we fully implementing what the WADA Code demands and there’s a long way to go around the world for that to happen," he said.

The new WADA Code comes into force on Jan. 1 and will see the ultimate sanction for doping rise from a two-year ban to four years.

However, a recent study by the University of Oslo has shown that muscle tissue can retain the advantages of anabolic steroids for decades after being initially ingested.

"Certainly there’s a study that shows that," Tygart said. "Not in humans but in mice so there’s still a lot of work to be done to see if that can be considered and then the process for changing the rules has to be done.

"I think what’s not fair to athletes, sports fans - all of us who are here for clean athletes and the integrity of sport - is that you can’t change the rules in the middle of the game," he added.

"Let’s go through the process that the rules are going to change in 2015 to a four-year sanction and there was a lengthy process that the whole world provided on that. If we need to go through that process again based on new scientific data that’s good and sound, then we’re happy to notify athletes and the world that that’s what the rule is and we’ll play by the rule."

Reported by Christian Radnedge

20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.