Armstrong refuses to meet with anti-doping agency
Cyclist Lance Armstrong has again declined to submit to an interview with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to discuss his years of doping in the sport.
Armstrong missed a USADA deadline Wednesday to agree to the interview. If he had consented to speak with the organization, it would have considered reducing Armstrong's lifetime ban from sanctioned sporting events.
Instead, Armstrong said he intends to cooperate fully with other anti-doping authorities, indicating that he would be open to an international cycling tribunal.
Armstrong's attorney, Tim Herman, said Armstrong remains at odds with the USADA for several reasons.
"Lance is willing to cooperate fully and has been very clear: He will be the first man through the door, and once inside will answer every question, at an international tribunal formed to comprehensively address pro cycling, an almost exclusively European sport," Herman said in a statement.
"We remain hopeful that an international effort will be mounted, and we will do everything we can to facilitate that result. In the meantime, for several reasons, Lance will not participate in USADA's efforts to selectively conduct American prosecutions that only demonize selected individuals while failing to address the 95 percent of the sport over which USADA has no jurisdiction."
The USADA, which had extended by two weeks its Feb. 6 deadline to meet with Armstrong, and other anti-doping agencies have pressed him to reveal all the facts of his activities during his successful but tainted run of success in cycling.
USADA CEO Travis Tygart learned Wednesday through the media that Armstrong rejected the request.
"We have provided Mr. Armstrong several opportunities to assist in our ongoing efforts to clean up the sport of cycling," Tygart said in a statement. "Following his recent television interview (with Oprah Winfrey), we again invited him to come in and provide honest information, and he was informed in writing by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) that this was the appropriate avenue for him if he wanted to be part of the solution."
Tygart said the USADA will move ahead with its investigation of Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France champion who was stripped of his titles.
