By Kim Se-jeong
A Seoul court fined the doctor, who injected swimmer Park Tae-hwan with a banned drug last year, 1 million won for violating the Medical Law, Thursday.
The Seoul Central District Court found the doctor, surnamed Kim, guilty of not recording the injection in the swimmer’s medical records.
The drug, Nebido, contains testosterone, a banned chemical for athletes. Park tested positive for testosterone in September last year, prior to the Incheon Asian Games.
“Kim failed to explain to Park in detail about the possibility for testing positive in doping tests,” the court said. “When Park asked Kim if the injection would cause a problem in doping tests, he said it would not.”
But the court ruled Kim was not guilty of damaging the swimmer’s health with her injection as claimed by Park.
Following the positive test result, the swimmer lost six medals, including a silver medal from the Asian Games. The International Swimming Federation also gave him an 18-month suspension, which will prevent him from competing at any contest until March next year.
The 2008 Beijing Olympic champion confessed that he had received an injection from Kim in July last year, but claimed that he had no idea that it contained the banned chemical. Park held the doctor accountable, saying she did not fully explain to him about what was in the injection. Kim claimed that the injection was given with Park’s full knowledge and consent.