WADA demand full Armstrong disclosure
The World Anti-Doping Agency has told Lance Armstrong to inform the authorities of the details of his sordid past after Oprah Winfrey revealed the disgraced cyclist admitted to doping during an interview.
Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles by the International Cycling Union last year and banned for life after the United States Anti-Doping Agency found he had been at the heart of "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".
Reacting to Winfrey's comments ahead of Thursday's broadcast of the first part of the interview, WADA director general David Howman said in a statement: "Only when Mr Armstrong makes a full confession under oath - and tells the anti-doping authorities all he knows about doping activities - can any legal and proper process for him to seek any reopening or reconsideration of his lifetime ban commence."
The motives for an admission are unclear but the 41-year-old Texan, who retired from cycling for a second time in 2010, was competing in triathlons until he was banned last year.
The UCI, cycling's world governing body, also urged Armstrong to co-operate with official channels and join the independent review it set up in the aftermath of the USADA report.
An admission of guilt opens Armstrong up to all manner of legal actions but Winfrey believes he was "ready" to come clean, albeit his admission did not happen in the way she had expected. Armstrong and Winfrey met in the disgraced cyclist's home city of Austin, Texas to record the interview on Monday.
On the day it was revealed the interview between the pair will be broadcast over two nights - leading to suggestions of profiteering - Winfrey commented on her experience interviewing the man labelled the single biggest cheat in sporting history.
"I feel that he answered the questions in a way that (suggested) he was ready," talk show host Winfrey told the CBS This Morning programme.
"I would say he did not come clean in the manner that I had expected. It was surprising to me."
The first part of the interview will be shown on the 'Oprah' show at 9pm local time on Thursday (2am GMT on Friday), with the second to follow 24 hours later.
