In the latest series of events in the doping scandal of South Korea swimming star Park Tae Hwan, Yonhap News is reporting that the international doping hearing for Olympic swimmer Park Tae Hwan has now been postponed from its originally scheduled February 27th date.
The hearing was to be held in Lausanne, Switzerland to review the incident of Park’s positive test due to an injection of Nebido, a commercial brand of testosterone undecanoate last Fall – an injection which now has resulted in the administering doctor being indicted on negligence charges.
Park’s camp is saying they need “more time to prepare”, per a statement by the Korean Swimming Federation (KSF). The Olympic gold medalist is facing a possible two-year suspension from the sport, which would certainly jeopardize any participation in the Rio 2016 Olympics.
As of this time, a new date for the hearing is still to be determined.
We hardly know any details yet and the hearing date is still unknown. Aren’t we too early and arbitrary to reach any conclusion on whether he cheated or not?
Wow, it looks like I struck a nerve here. I guess I should mention that I was a collegiate competitive swimmer in California 8 years ago (division 1), and swim to maintain some of my racing fitness. I also won a first place medal in the 100m freestyle in a city competition just south of Seoul. Admittedly, my time wasn’t as fast as that
이상수 with his 52.37! Impressive. Before you label me a hater, I have enjoyed 2 years here, have many wonderful Korean friends, and speak Korean well, including with my future inlaws. I stand by my assertion that a majority of Koreans can’t swim, and it says a lot about elite swimming that Korea’s top olympian… Read more »
MRTRIATHLEET, I’m really just tired of telling you that with your still evident provincial outlook on Korean swimming, it will not get you far. The Korean Swimming Federation is not actually run like USA Swimming. The Korean Swimming Federation and Park did not have good relations which is why he had no choice but to swim elsewhere. Furthermore, he barely even swam in the states. He did go on 2-3 months trips to Australia to train, but other than that he trained actually right next to me here in Korea. And please…if the WADA had such a “stringent” process wouldn’t prominent athletes today such as Neil Armstrong, Tyson Gay have been caught immediately? Do you think they did it for… Read more »
Do you know Park personally?
I can’t say I know him personally, but I have friends (Korea National Team swimmers) who swim with Park and have known him for quite a while. Also, I’ve just seen him grow as a swimmer since he swims in the lane next to me (even though everything is really chaotic for him right now because of the positive results, he still does come to the pool to practice daily.) He is a very positive person even in such hard times!
It’s good to know he is still training and maintains positive. He is a legendary swimmer and I’m looking forward to see his next competition whenever it is. If you meet him again, please mention out support to him. Thx!
Korea swimming is an absolute joke. The only gold medal the country has ever earned is by a doper! The “all swimmers cheat a little bit with injections” (paraphrase) is complete BS. Mr. Park personally searched for this doctor. It’s a sad disgrace that his country is unable to coach or support him properly, thus his decision to train in North Carolina at MAC (amazing program). Anyways, I swim in South Korea to maintain fitness, and the coaches never know what they are doing. They simply yell go go go to their clients who flail about with poor technique. The vast majority of Koreans I have met would promptly and literally drown if in water deeper than their head. I… Read more »
“MRTRIATHLEET” If you swim for fitness in Korea, I’m sorry, but you have absolutely no idea about the competitive Korean swimming environment. You have in no way qualified your argument. So you say you swim for “fitness” purposes. All the “fitness” purposes coaches are not even coaches. Would you compare Michael Bohl with a local aquarobics coach? No you would not, which is exactly my point. The amount of time and effort competitive Korean swimmers put in is unfathomable.
Here is some proof:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jZR7xJ8x2M (100 LCM free age group 12-15)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78FFEtLo_F0 (50 LCM butterfly age group 12-15)
Many other prominent races can be viewed… Read more »
Yes, he made a mistake. But this shouldn’t erase his accomplishments for the past decade. And he was in a very hard situation since 2012. No sponsorship, no personal doctor, no support from KSF, no swimming pool in Korea! Still, he trained very hard and maintained as top performer. He is always one of the greatest swimmers!
Whoever is saying he is now not a great swimmer….everyone makes mistakes it’s just that he made the wrong choices for once…in his 15-17 years of swimming. No doubt, what he did is wrong, but the inevitable fact is that all prominent swimmers out there do actually get injections in small doses that will be just at the maximum of not getting detected by the doping tests. If you are not an insider….no one would not know what goes on if they have not actually seen these professional swimmers on a personal level. All in all, Park is NOT trying to get himself out of this in a shady way as most news portals are claiming. It’s all just some… Read more »
on the long run , he won’t get away with it without loosing much credibility . For me , he is no longer a great swimmer . Bye Bye
More time to prepare = more time to force that poor doctor to fall on his sword for “the honor of the nation.”