Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson, the 11-time Paralympic champion, has been named on a three-person panel that will assess the Lance Armstrong affair and the International Cycling Union's role in the scandal, the world governing body has announced.
The UCI in October ratified sanctions recommended by the United States Anti-doping Agency after their investigation concluded Armstrong and his United States Postal Service team ran "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen".
Allegations of complicity and insider knowledge were levelled at the UCI and its leadership, all of which have been denied.
John Coates, president of the International Council of Arbitration for Sport, assembled the independent commission, which will be chaired by the former Court of Appeal judge Sir Philip Otton.
The third member will be the Australian lawyer Malcolm Holmes QC. The commission will hold a hearing in London between April 9-26 next year. Their report is to be submitted to the UCI by June 1 or soon afterwards.
The terms of reference were drawn up by the commission members, with plans to determine facts, examine evidence and make recommendations.
Questions will include whether the UCI were aware of doping practices at US Postal and if not, why not; whether anti-doping policies and procedures were adequate; and, whether there was evidence of widespread doping which was ignored.
The commission will also look at Armstrong's relationship with the UCI, including whether he made payments to them and whether these were appropriate.
The UCI have admitted they accepted a donation from Armstrong in 2002, but strongly deny it was connected to any cover-up of a positive dope test.
Other subjects for consideration include whether those convicted of doping offences should be able to work in cycling and, if not, how such a measure would be enforced.
Pat McQuaid, the UCI president, said: "The wide-ranging terms of reference demonstrate the commission's determination to review fully the issues contained in the USADA report and I welcome that.
"The commission's report and recommendations are critical to restoring confidence in the sport of cycling and in the UCI as its governing body.
"The appointment of these three eminent figures demonstrates clearly that the UCI wants to get to the bottom of the Lance Armstrong affair and put cycling back on the right track."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article