Updated
A review into Cycling Australia has called for more extensive anti-doping testing in the wake of several high-profile resignations that rocked the organisation last year.
The review, headed by former New South Wales Supreme Court judge James Wood, has also recommended there be new requirements on some senior staff, coaches and athletes to sign declarations to say they have not been involved with performance-enhancing drugs.
Cycling Australia's vice-president Stephen Hodge resigned from his position last year after admitting to being part of a team doping program during his professional riding career.
The organisation sacked former Olympian Matt White from his position with Cycling Australia for his role in the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.
The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) last year handed down an explosive report into Armstrong's US Postal Service Pro Cycling team, saying it was involved in "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping program that sport has ever seen".
Armstrong is due to give his first media interview this week since being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles last year.
Oprah Winfrey says Armstrong will discuss the doping scandal that has brought down his career during a 90-minute interview from his home in Austin, Texas.
The Australian Government asked Justice Wood to review Cycling Australia's anti-doping measures and governance arrangements in a bid to restore public confidence in the sport.
Sports Minister Kate Lundy is still to consider the report's 16 recommendations in detail, but has described the suggestions as "constructive".
"What I want to see is a sport that has its integrity fully restored. I think the public's confidence in cycling was shaken following the USADA revelations last year," Senator Lundy told reporters in Canberra.
The report says that Cycling Australia's governance arrangements need to be updated, including the introduction of a new "declaration policy".
"An important driver for this review was the fact that former athletes had been appointed to certain roles in the sport, without consideration of whether or not they had been involved in doping activity," the report states, in arguing the case for the policy.
It has also said that anti-doping testing should be extended to state/territory events, as well as club and Masters level competitions, that are currently subject to either limited or no testing.
Justice Wood has suggested Cycling Australia consider how it can support whistleblowers who provide information on doping activities.
Topics: cycling, sport, doping-in-sports, australia
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