IOC president defends cycling

PanARMENIAN.Net - IOC president Jacques Rogge has defended the international cycling union's anti-doping efforts and says it would be wrong to kick the sport out of the Olympics after the Lance Armstrong scandal.

Rogge says cycling body UCI "has always been at the forefront of the fight against doping" and was one of the first sports to introduce biological passports to monitor blood profiles.

He says the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report that painted Armstrong as a central figure in a systematic doping ring is "shocking."

But Rogge says "it would be unfair to penalize the huge majority of clean athletes by banning UCI from the Olympic Games."

He reiterated that the IOC is awaiting more UCI action before possibly stripping Armstrong of his bronze medal from the 2000 Olympics, AP reported.