The Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) expects cyclist Stuart O'Grady to resign from its athletes' commission within a day after he admitted to doping for the 1998 Tour de France.
A six-time Olympian and 2004 gold medallist, O'Grady confessed on Thursday to using the banned blood booster erythropoietin (EPO) in preparation for that infamous Tour after his name emerged, with those of other riders, from a French parliamentary inquiry.
O'Grady, who announced his retirement a day earlier after riding a record-equalling 17th Tour, said that 1998 doping episode was a one-off bad decision and he did not dope again.
While he expressed sadness that his many notable cycling achievements - which include Olympic gold, a Paris-Roubaix triumph and Tour de France stage success - would be tainted, the AOC showed little sympathy.
It emailed O'Grady within hours, asking him to resign immediately from its athletes' commission and expected to dismiss him if he didn't.
"I think we'll hear from Stuart within the day, that he'll resign," said AOC spokesman Mike Tancred.
"He is a six-time Olympian, he's a gold medallist, but really his career is tarnished as of today following what he has admitted," said Tancred.
"It's sad he won't be remembered as a fantastic competitor, that we all thought he was.
"Instead he'll be remembered as an athlete who succumbed to the temptation of drugs in sport just to get an edge on some of his fellow riders."
He stressed it didn't matter whether or not O'Grady had only doped once.
"The number of times he did it was really irrelevant for the AOC," Tancred said.
"We have a zero tolerance approach to drugs in sport."
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