World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) president John Fahey has
insisted it would take "something close to a miracle" for Lance
Armstrong to get his lifetime ban from competitive sport reduced.
Speaking on the opening day of the World Conference on
Doping in Sport in Johannesburg, Fahey said the case against Armstrong was
"irrefutable" and that he considered the issue "done and
dusted".
Armstrong was banned last year following an exhaustive
investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (Usada), which concluded
in a 1,000-page report that the 42-year-old American was a "serial
cheat" who was behind the "the most sophisticated, professionalised
and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".
Armstrong has since offered to testify at any future
investigation into doping, promising "100 per cent transparency and
honesty", but has hinted he would only do so if his punishment was brought
into line with other confessed dopers who were given more lenient bans.
'Done and dusted'
However, Fahey said: "It would take something close
to a miracle to change it. As far as I'm concerned, it is done and dusted.
"Armstrong did what he did. We all know what that
is. He did not cooperate, he did not defend the charges that Usada put out
there last year and he was dealt with in a proper process."
Armstrong's doping was finally uncovered last October
after Usada secured testimonies from former team-mates, and the Texan later
admitted cheating his way to seven Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005 to
chat show host Oprah Winfrey.
Usada imposed the initial lifetime ban on Armstrong and
it was subsequently ratified by the International Cycling Union (UCI), whose
president at the time, Pat McQuaid, said Armstrong had "no place in
cycling".
Usada jurisdiction
Fahey insisted that should Armstrong's case be reopened,
it could only be done so by Usada.
He added: "The only ones who can reopen [it], and it
would have be a damn good reason, is Usada. We [Wada] can't, no one else can,
the UCI can't.
"If he wants to have his actions looked at, then
that is a matter for Usada and it would have to be an extraordinarily powerful
reason as I would see it.
"To my knowledge, there has been no move [from
Armstrong] to say] I want to give substantial assistance, in the understanding
that if I talk to you, you might open the case again and reconsider the life
ban'."
* The cost of Brian Cookson's campaign to be elected as
president of the UCI was £120,000, British Cycling has confirmed. His campaign
funds came from British Cycling's international relations budget and the
governing body said Cookson kept costs to a minimum by travelling standard
class on several trips to different parts of the world.
Culled from Skysports
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