WADA denies withholding information

MONTREAL — World Anti-Doping Agency chief Dick Pound denied claims by cycling's governing body that WADA withheld information for the probe into whether Lance Armstrong used banned substances during the 1999 Tour de France.

"We tried to the best of our possibilities to provide the information that we have," Pound told a news conference on Tuesday after a meeting of WADA's executive committee.

Pound said he was puzzled by a request from the International Cycling Union for information on Armstrong because WADA did not exist at the time of the alleged doping incidents.

Pound said WADA was concerned about the "accusatory approach" by UCI, which accused WADA of withholding information.

"We were only formed after these events took place in 1999," Pound said. "We are unable to answer questions of what may have been on the minds of the UCI or the lab."

On Monday, the UCI denied Pound's assertion that its president, Hein Verbruggen, supplied information to the French newspaper L'Equipe, which reported last month that Armstrong's urine samples from the 1999 race contained traces of the banned endurance-enhancing drug EPO.

The UCI urged WADA to censure Pound or assign someone else to the case.

"I thought about sanctioning myself and decided against it," Pound said, joking.

"We're a bit nervous about the way this is going, so while we're willing to be helpful in the context of a full investigation, we're not there to participate in something that amounts to a search of how the information made its way in the public domain."

Armstrong has denied ever using banned drugs, and said he was the victim of a "witch hunt" after the article was published.

Also, Pound said Tuesday that FIFA was inching closer to compliance with WADA's anti-doping code after the soccer body revised its rules to allow WADA to appeal any FIFA rulings to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The arrangement amounted to "a good decision" avoiding future public confrontation, he said. Pound said this year FIFA risked expulsion from the Olympics because it failed to accept two-year bans for serious doping offenses.

WADA also announced that it approved the 2006 list of prohibited substances and methods, which would be published before October and go into effect on Jan. 1, 2006.

WADA said in a news release that the new list was a "consolidation list and includes only minor modifications."