WADA head expects sharing of Armstrong evidence

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Despite the US Attorney closing an investigation into the US Postal Service team and Lance Armstrong, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) head still expects that evidence gathered in the case will be shared with anti-doping authorities.

The agency today issued a statement from its president, John Fahey, who noted that the federal government's interest in the case centered around allegations of fraud - that sponsor money coming from the government agency was used for doping - but that any evidence of anti-doping rule violations by the team and its riders would be the domain of the anti-doping agency.

"...A large amount of the evidence gathered is likely to be highly pertinent to doping and WADA expects that this evidence will be shared with relevant anti-doping authorities for them to determine whether any breaches of the anti-doping rules have occurred," Fahey said.

Now that the federal government's investigation has concluded, Fahey said that WADA anticipates any evidence "can be handed over quickly for the anti-doping agencies to take appropriate action".

While doping for performance gain is not against the law in the US, Fahey noted that the country is a signatory to the WADA code, and it has also ratified a UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport.

Because the WADA code is a non-government document which only applies to members of sports organisations, the UNESCO convention was created to give governments a legal framework to address doping in sport, presumably paving the way for such cooperation between the federal investigators and the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).

USADA CEO Travis Tygart indicated yesterday that his agency is prepared to obtain evidence from the government toward its own investigation "of doping in cycling".