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May 18th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
An independent review of Australia’s GreenEDGE cycling team has recommended it reinstates sacked sports director and confessed doper Matt White.
White stood down as GreenEDGE director and from a part-time role with Cycling Australia last October after admitting to doping while riding for Lance Armstrong’s US Postal Service team a decade ago.
Last month White completed a six month suspension imposed by ASADA (Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority).
As well as calling for Matt White to be reinstated, the review by former World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) director Nicky Vance advocated for clemency for riders found to have doped prior to the current eight-year statute of limitations along with reduced penalties for riders who made full admissions and informed on others.
He’s been a very strong proponent of anti-doping strategies and a key member of the GreenEDGE team in supporting anti-doping.
Vance says her recommendation for GreenEDGE does not come without important conditions.
“Matt White has served his time in terms of the anti-doping sanctions given by ASADA,” Ms Vance told AM.
“During the process that he underwent with ASADA, he gave a full admission as to his doping practices which stopped some six or seven years ago.
“Since that time, he’s been a very strong proponent of anti-doping strategies and a key member of the GreenEDGE team in supporting anti-doping. So I really made an assessment and believe that with what he has already undertaken and his approach has changed and there was no reason to continue a sanction.
“This is not necessarily yet adopted by GreenEDGE … but my recommendation is to reinstate him, with certain conditions.
“It’s not an absolute. There are conditions around his ongoing behaviour and co-operation with anti-doping authorities for any anti-doping investigation, as well as contributing to anti-doping strategies within the team itself.”
If an anti-doping authority faced with a case deems that it’s appropriate to reduce the sanction due to what it terms ‘substantial assistance’, then I did not see why the team should necessarily do anything different.
Vance has also recommended a staggered approach to the way sanctions are imposed.
“If you look at my recommendations, from the period of time – I’m talking about 2005 to 2010 and those dates are fairly arbitrary – I wanted to draw a line,” she said.
“I’m still acknowledging that the World Anti-Doping Code and the anti-doping authorities will undertake whatever sanctions they feel necessary.
“It was just acknowledging that I would encourage them to use a clemency approach using that substantial assistance aspect of the code which currently exists, and which was useful for a couple of the Americans that were supporting the Lance Armstrong case which started this ball rolling.
“It’s not inconsistent, let’s say, with the current code – it’s just encouraging that approach, and not from a team point of view.
“My task here was to provide recommendations to the team. It’s just to encourage them to recognise any such sanctions and not necessarily have what has been termed a zero tolerance approach.
“If an anti-doping authority faced with a case deems that it’s appropriate to reduce the sanction due to what it terms ‘substantial assistance’, then I did not see why the team should necessarily do anything different – again, with the conditions of full admission of their practices, information about others, and so forth as outlined in the recommendations.”
Topics:
cycling,
sport,
doping-in-sports,
australia
First posted
Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-18/review-urges-white-be-reinstated-as-greenedge-director/4697978
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