Olympics: The doping problems that have engulfed cycling should not be a reason for the sport to be dropped from the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said.
Cycling has been rocked by a series of high-profile doping cases that have undermined the sport's credibility and threatened to damage its worldwide appeal.
"My position and the position of the IOC is very clear - we should not throw out the baby with the bathwater," IOC president Jacques Rogge said.
"It is not the UCI (International Cycling Union) that is cheating. It is the riders."
Rogge said as long as the UCI adhered to the doping code and did everything by the book to protect the sport then cycling would remain part of the Olympic programme at future Games.
"If they (UCI) do everything then it will have its place in the Games," Rogge said. "They are doing their best. It is an uphill struggle but we want them to keep their confidence."
Several prominent riders, past and present, have publicly admitted taking banned substances for years, prompting calls for wider and more sophisticated testing.
Even the director of the Tour de France said recently that he could not guarantee a drug-free race this year.
Rogge has said he would strip the Sydney 2000 Olympic medals of German rider Jan Ullrich, who also won the Tour in 1997, if it was proven he had taken banned substances.
But on Thursday he said the IOC could not go further back than eight years to investigate other cases.
Ullrich won the men's Olympic road race in Sydney and also claimed silver in the time-trial.
"We cannot go back to (the) Atlanta (1996 Olympics)," Rogge said. "Anything in Atlanta is beyond the statute of limitations. There is no way we could strip the medals."
Asked whether he would be willing to investigate admissions by several athletes from the former East Germany, who have admitted taking drugs, Rogge said the IOC could not do that.
"They are only Olympic champions by name," he said. "They do not have the moral rights of being Olympic champions but we cannot strip the medals."