UCI President Pat McQuaid is no longer part of the World Anti Doping Agency’s Executive Committee plus its Foundation Board, with his stint in the latter position ending a year earlier than scheduled.
WADA confirmed to VeloNation today that McQuaid had completed his term in the first of those positions, being replaced by Ugur Erdener on January 1st.
“I can confirm that Mr. Pat McQuaid ceased being a member of WADA’s Executive Committee and Foundation Board as of Dec. 31, 2012,” WADA spokesman Terence O’Rorke said today. “This was the date that Mr. McQuaid’s one-year 2012 term on the Executive Committee ended.”
He said that the Association of Summer International Olympic Associations (ASOIF) had selected Erdener, the President of World Archery and the Turkish National Olympic Council, to succeed him.
McQuaid’s absence from the Executive Committee was highlighted yesterday on Twitter and while it has emerged that his term in that position was always due to end at the conclusion of 2012, his absence from the Foundation Board was unexpected.
WADA told VeloNation today that he had been due to serve on that board until the end of the current year. When asked the reason why he was no longer in place, O’Rorke said that the Agency was not given a reason by the AOSIF, with the sole communication being the list of those it was putting forward.
Enquiries to the IOC and to the ASOIF have as yet been unanswered.
UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani seemed surprised. “We saw the list today and noticed that his name is missing,” he said this evening. “The UCI doesn’t know exactly what has happened.”
Relations between the UCI and WADA have at times been tense, most notably in relation to the Armstrong/US Postal Service investigation. Last month WADA president John Fahey expressed concerns about the terms of reference laid out by the independent commission looking into the UCI, and suggested that the Agency might not cooperate with the investigation if changes to those terms was not made.
“WADA has some significant concerns about the commission’s terms of reference and has alerted the lawyers representing the commission of its concerns,” he said then.
“If WADA’s concerns cannot be resolved as a result of this meeting, WADA will consider seriously whether it can take part in the commission’s process.”
The terms of reference were drawn up by the Commission itself rather than the UCI. McQuaid has denied allegations that the UCI shielded Armstrong, and has said that he is confident that the Independent Commission’s investigation will show that the governing body did not act inappropriately at any point.
Regardless of Fahey’s unease about the terms of reference plus David Howman's strong words about the UCI in August over USADA's jurisdiction, WADA’s statement today plus the UCI’s response suggests that the replacement of McQuaid was not a decision by the World Anti Doping Agency, but rather the ASOIF.
VeloNation will update this story when more information becomes available.