Regarding the latest with South Korean swimmer Park Tae Hwan’s doping suspension, as we reported, there is a subjective domestic rule which would, in theory, tack on an additional 3-year suspension for any national athlete to being at the end of the FINA-mandated disciplinary period.
Fox Sports says that Korean Olympic Committe official, Park Dong-hee is now stating that “we [KOC] will never bend our rules for the interest of an individual athlete, but it is true that the suspension of Park Tae Hwan triggered a debate on whether the rule is legally appropriate.” He additionally stated that “The KOC’s competition and disciplinary committees will discuss the rule before the organization’s board of directors makes a decision on it, a process that normally takes about three months.”
This debate rings similarly to the one over the IOC’s “Rule 45” that proposed additional suspensions beyond those agreed to by the signatories of the World Anti-Doping Code. That rule proposed an Olympic ban for athletes serving a suspension of longer than 6 months, but the Court of Arbitration for Sport eventually struck that rule down, citing that it was a violation of the agreement signed by all parties that recognize the Code.
Another impact of FINA’s suspension may result in the city of Incheon removing Park’s name from its aquatic facility if public opinion of the athlete continues to unravel. According to The Korea Times, soon after the FINA ruling was announced, “some people complained to the city government, asking that it remove Park’s name from the “Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center”. The Incheon Metropolitan City officials are indicating that the name’s removal would be a difficult decision, that they “don’t have a plan to change the name yet, but we will see how the public opinion goes.”
The public will have the opportunity to hear from the swimming champion himself, as Park Tae-hwan will be holding a press conference in the southern Seoul district of Songpa at 3pm local time on Friday, March 27th.
Is it “legally appropriate” to allow an elite athlete who took a banned substance (and I don’t believe for a minute he didn’t know!) to disregard the rules set forth by the KOC!
Um….. at what point does cheating not become cheating? Just because they (KOC) plan on reviewing their rule and convene special meetings in regards to their prize athlete cheating to see if they can forget about it?? Any other out come beside following the letter of their rule is …..cheating! Just say NO. Plus my mama always said cheaters never win.
3 year ban? just call it what it is, forced retirement
This is a joke. I don’t know how you could say any of that with a straight face. As David said, you can’t make an absolute statement like “we will never bend the rules” and then finish the sentence by stating that you’re trying to find a way to bend the rules.
And to clarify, I’m not even against Park swimming at the Olympics if he’s clean. But the fact that, when their own rule threatens to work against them, they so blatantly start scrambling for an excuse to make an exception is ridiculous. Even more so when they’re trying to deny that that’s what they’re doing. I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad rule. It’s harsh, but looking at all the doping scandals that are coming up recently, it may be needed. Still, if you’re going to make the rule, commit to enforcing it.
Park should just retire. This is a blight on the sport to keep revisiting. There plainly isn’t any chance the Korean delegation will hold him out of the Olympics. This all seems to be a staged face saving performance for Park and their federation both. It is pathetic and is beneath this sport to have hang over it.
They should cut the bs and just lift the 3 year additional ban. No need for conferences and committee meetings. Pretending to care isn’t going to fool anyone.
“We [KOC] will never bend our rules for the interest of an individual athlete, but…”
If you have to condition a response with a “but” it’s as good as an admission that you are doing what you said you were not doing in the first place.
Shocker