Having completed a six-month ban for doping.
Former Australian professional cyclist
Matt White hopes to continue a career in the sport, having completed a
six-month ban for doping during his career.
White released a statement on Friday
afternoon confirming that he had been informed by the Australian Sports
Anti-Doping Authority [ASADA] that he has been banned for six months after
confessing to doping last October.
But with the ban dating back to October
13, the suspension had passed by April 13 - meaning that he can now seek to
continue his career in cycling as a sports director if a team wishes to sign
him up.
White was head sports director of the
Australian Orica GreenEDGE team but lost his job because of his ban. The team
is racing in the Giro d'Italia that starts Saturday.
White's confession to doping came after he was named as a drug user in the United States Anti Doping Agency's findings into Lance Armstrong who was banned for life for doping of fences.
White was a former teammate of
Armstrong on the US Postal Services team.
"Since admitting my history last
October, I have co-operated fully with ASADA including submitting to a
provisional suspension pending a determination by the ADRVP [Anti-Doping Rule
Violation Panel] to enter my name onto the register," White said in a
statement.
"There is no doubt that if I could
have my time again I would never have engaged in the culture that was both
accepted and expected of professional riders during my racing career. In saying
that I accept full responsibility for my actions and there is no one to blame
but myself for the decisions I made as an athlete in the past.
"I would like to apologise to my
family, friends and all those associated with the sport of cycling for my use
of prohibited substances during my racing career.
"I stopped my racing career
because I had the opportunity to be part of something that had the potential to
actually change cycling. The ideas about a clean team that Dave Millar and
Jonathan Vaughters spoke to me about back then were initiatives the sport
desperately needed. History has now shown that these ideas when fully
implemented are having a lasting impact on cycling.
"With key elements like "Blood
Profiling" which was later taken on board as the "Athlete Biological
Passport" and the "No-Needles-Policy" also adopted by the UCI
and WADA, a radical change for the better started to dominate the minds of a
lot of athletes. These are legacies that were pioneered at Slipstream and they
have had a real and lasting impact on cycling.
"I have so much passion for
cycling and I would like the opportunity to again work with the cyclists of the
future. I believe that my experience will prove invaluable when advising these
athletes of the importance in making the correct decisions.
"In my roles with Slipstream
Sports, Cycling Australia and at ORICA-GreenEDGE, I have always acted within
the ethos of clean sport and I am very proud to have worked with the new generation
of clean stars.
"In cycling today there is no need
to take performance enhancing drugs to be successful. I know I can be part of
the solution to continue the work our sport has already started by changing the
culture, something I have witnessed and been involved in since my retirement.
"I hope that I can repay the faith
and trust showed to me in the past by leading the ongoing fight for a clean
sport in the future."
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