MONTREAL, May 12: The World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) new president made it clear that developing body chemistry profiles of athletes remains a top priority despite the group’s withdrawal from a pilot project in the midst of a rift with the International Cycling Union.

John Fahey presided as chairman over this weekend’s WADA foundation board meeting, the global agency’s first official gathering since the one-time Australian finance minister succeeded former president Dick Pound on Jan 1.

Fahey clarified the impact of WADA’s decision to pull out of a partnership with the UCI in March. The move followed UCI’s decision to launch a court action in Switzerland against Pound based on the former president’s comments about cycling’s doping problems.

The UCI joined with WADA to create an $8 million pilot project that requires each athlete to provide a “passport” or profile of data from a series of blood and urine tests to be used as a baseline for subsequent tests.

“Will we go back to a programme, we’re not sure that is necessary because we want to get an athlete’s passport that works as a tool for many sports, not just cycling,” Fahey stated.

“There was an opportunity to do something with cycling, it is not critical to the ultimate outcome and for those reasons the athlete’s passport is very much on the agenda and will remain there with WADA.”

Fahey, a 63-year-old former rugby player who spearheaded Sydney’s successful bid for the 2000 Olympics as the premier of New South Wales, acknowledged that WADA provided significant financial help to the US Anti-Doping Agency for the recent doping hearing against Floyd Landis at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

“We did that because the UCI wouldn’t do it,” Fahey said. “It was their sport, it was their responsibility. They were the primary party, in responsibility terms. When they indicated they weren’t prepared to do it we believed that we had a responsibility to step in.

“It is disappointing that they did not front up initially and I would hope that should that arise again that they reconsider their attitude,” he added.

WADA Director General David Howman said he and Fahey intend to discuss the ultimate responsibility for the legal costs when they meet with CAS representatives in June.

“That’s a matter that we wish to take up with the CAS so that the issue of costs in very expensive cases is viewed seriously by the panels because there can be very good examples in civil law where the costs fall with the party who has been determined to be at fault,” Howman expressed.—AP