By Baek Byung-yeul
The Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) deferred its decision on banned swimmer Park Tae-hwan’s Olympic status, Friday morning, saying it would uphold the ruling made by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which is scheduled to be made later in the day.
The 2008 Beijing Olympic champion was banned for 18 months by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in March 2015 for testing positive for banned testosterone supplements in 2014.
Park’s suspension ended in March, but he has remained ineligible to make the national team as the KOC bans athletes who have been suspended for doping from representing the country for three years starting on the day their ban ends.
Disobeying the controversial KOC regulation, the 26-year-old swimmer filed an appeal with the CAS, the world’s top sports tribunal. He also filed an injunction against the KOC and the Korea Swimming Federation with Seoul Eastern District Court, which ruled last Friday that Park is eligible for the national team.
In response to the ruling, the KOC has said it will abide by the CAS’s decision, which was set to be announced by 5 p.m. Friday (KST).
“After a board of directors meeting on Friday morning, we have decided to abide by the CAS ruling and therefore,” the KOC said.
The KOC added it will include Park in the national team squad for the Rio Olympics regardless of the CAS ruling. “We also have decided to put him in the Rio Olympics roster to the effect of respecting the local court’s ruling.” The deadline to submit the final roster to FINA for the Rio Olympics is Friday.
If the KOC decides to put Park on Rio Olympics roster, it will then discuss amending the controversial rule.
A month after the suspension ended, Park raced in the Olympic trials and made qualifying times for Rio Olympics in four freestyle races ― 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter and 1,500-meter.