Jun 20, 2006, 11:07 GMT
Hamburg - The World Anti-Doping Agency late Monday dismissed a call from Tour de France cycling hero Lance Armstrong to dump its head Dick Pound over the handling of doping accusations.
WADA said in a statement that it had done nothing wrong in an affair involving a French laboratory, the ruling cycling body UCI, a report from French sports daily L'Equipe and an investigation by a Dutch lawyer.
Armstrong said in a letter published on his website that Pound should be expelled from WADA and the International Olympic Committee.
'Dick Pound has always been quick to admonish others and to call for officials accused of misconduct to be sanctioned and removed from involvement in the Olympic movement,' Armstrong said in the letter adressed to IOC president Jacques Rogge and the IOC executive board.
'In my view, it is essential that the IOC executive committee and the IOC president recognize this is a critical situation that requires decisive action,' he said.
The issue is expected to be discussed at IOC executive board meetings starting Wednesday at the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Last August, L'Equipe suggested in a report that examinations of samples by the French lab revealed that Armstrong used the forbidden blood doping substance EPO when he claimed the first of his historic seven straight Tour de France wins in 1999.
EPO tests were not available in 1999, but the belated examination of the frozen samples for research purposes last year, after the introduction of a reliable test method, seemingly revealed substance abuse.
Armstrong, who retired last year, protested his innocence and the UCI asked Dutch lawyer Emile Vrijman to investigate. Vrijman in late May cleared Armstrong from any wrongdoing and attacked WADA and the French lab over the affair.
But WADA slammed Vrijman's conclusions as 'farcical' on June 2 and reiterated its dissent on Monday in a 12-page statement.
'Mr. Vrijman's report is fallacious in many aspects and misleading. WADA is presently looking at all its available legal recourses in respect of the report,' said WADA.
WADA said Vrijman was guilty of 'a lack of professionalism and a distinct lack of impartiality in conducting a full review of all the facts.'
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