As reported yesterday, South Korean Olympic swimmer Park Tae-hwan failed a doping test, according to his agency, Team GMP. FINA, the world’s swimming governing body, reportedly conducted the test in early September, which rendered, according to South Korean media, a positive result for testosterone. (AP)
The 25-year-old Olympic gold medalist and his agency are blaming the result on “an illegal injection administered by a local doctor…..containing a banned substance unbeknownst to Park” as part of free chiropractic treatment the athlete received two months prior to the Asian Games.
Park’s agency maintains that the hospital confirmed the injection did not contain any prohibited substances, however, it was “later found that it did.” (AP). After intently questioning Park, as well as hospital officials about the actual injection, Yonhap News is reporting that “the hospital said it didn’t know testosterone was a prohibited substance.” Testosterone is indeed included in the list of FINA’s banned substances and is identified in several forms within the document.
In reviewing the FINA Doping Control Rules, Park’s incident seems to fall within violation of rule 2.1, which is identified by “presence of a prohibited substances or its metabolites or markers in an athlete’s sample.” FINA’s rule further specifies that it is each “athlete’s personal duty to ensure that no prohibited substance enters his or her body.” Also pertinent to Park’s case is how the rule details that the “athlete’s fault is taken into consideration in determining the consequences of this anti-doping rule violation.”
Park’s management is maintaining that, “At the time, the hospital offered to give Park an injection, and he repeatedly asked if it contained any illegal substances. The doctor said there would be no problem. And yet it turned out the injection contained a banned substance. With our team of legal experts, we’re trying to determine why the particular hospital injected Park with an illegal substance, and we’re preparing to hold it civilly and criminally liable.”
The Associated Press is reporting that Park will face a hearing in February to face the doping charge, which can carry severe Rio 2016-impacting effects. Violations of the aforementioned FINA doping control rule, if his case indeed falls within 2.1, carries an ineligibility period of two years.
According to the World Anti-Doping Code, testosterone is not a “specified substance,” which means that even an accidental use argument is not supposed to mitigate the punishment for a positive test.
FINA specifically states in it’s Doping Control rules that “the Administration of a Prohibited Substance by the Athlete’s personal physician or trainer without disclosure to the athlete” does not eliminate a positive doping test, though it could impact the length of the suspension (which in Park’s case, shouldn’t be relevant).
Per its own rules, if testosterone is verified to be what the adverse analytical finding showed, Park should have immediately been given a “provisional suspension,” also under the non-Specified Substance regulations.
Whatever you say.
LOL.. What a surprise, an Asian getting caught for doping. I remember back at the Olympics I predicted he and some of the other Chinese swimmers swimming absurd times were on illegal PEDs and a lot of you gave me sh**.
Does anyone realize how advanced some of these drugs are and how out of date the testing procedures are in comparison?? This is so typical I hope he gets thrown out of the sport.
I believe Gary Hall Jr. once said the takers are a step ahead of the testers
Park Tae-Hwan never swam absurd times. American swimmers swam far more absurd times.
Also, the swimmers using the most sophisticated drugs are the ones NOT caught (yet).
I guess by your post, everyone = cheaters. No one is clean especially in swimming.
Basic logic failed you.
Let me guess. Americans are also cheaters because after all based on your logic, they’re producing out of this world times, so they’re cheating. I can see you from here.
For the second time, basic logic failed you.
I need to correct myself, actually logic AND basic reading comprehension failed you.
Very disappointed at this whole situation as Park is a favorite swimmer of mine. One of the most versatile freestylers out there that can swim a solid time from the 50 to the 1500.
Yea, because he was cheating.
This will unfortunately cast a pall over Asian athletes in this sport. 1992 was a long time ago, but something like this takes us all the way back to openly questioning the accomplishments of any Asian international medalist. I am always the advocate of the athlete and Park deserves a due process. I hope against odds based on the way this reads that where there is smoke there isn’t fire this time. If not, let the asterisk counts begin onto Asian swimmers, which will be most unfair onto the clean ones but what are we to say now? I will still never get over seeing the 1992 clean athletes stand a podium spots below their rightful place because of the… Read more »
“the hospital said it didn’t know testosterone was a prohibited substance.”
You have got to be kidding me!! This is the worst “excuse” we’ve heard so far…
So he should have been provisionally suspended immediately. How on earth do they bend that rule? Asian games in Korea, in a pool named after him, going up against fellow doper Sun Yang, big money at stake? What a joke. The officials who let this one go should also be banned from the sport for 4years.
His doping was LAST YEAR, he will be sentenced by the old WADA code.Probably two years(max).
“Didn’t know that testosterone was a banned substance”……
Right? Isn’t that like, the most banned substance? Pretty much all performance enhancers are variants, I thought.
haha. he seriously needs some better PR people. I have full confidence that FINA will hand down the 4 year ban he deserves…
That statement allegedly came from the hospital, not Park or his team.
that makes more sense haha.