The world's top sports tribunal will rule on the fate of the banned South Korean swimmer Park Tae-hwan on Friday, a day later than expected, the athlete's representatives said.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), based in Lausanne, Switzerland, has emailed Park's international lawyer that its ruling will be made sometime Friday local time, according to the representatives. No specific reasons were known for the delay.
Park, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the 400m freestyle, has filed an appeal at the CAS over a Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) ban for this year's Rio de Janeiro Summer Games.
A KOC rule bars athletes from competing for the country for three years after the end of a doping suspension. And Park, whose 18-month international doping ban ended in March this year, was kept off the provisional national team roster on May 11.
According to Park's camp, the CAS opened hearing on the case at 7 p.m. Thursday in South Korean time, and the swimmer's reps had expected a decision by late Thursday night.
The CAS, when announcing Park's appeal on June 29, said Park had requested "an urgent ruling" by July 8, the cut-off date for the South Korean national team selection for Rio.
In the meantime, the KOC on Thursday afternoon scheduled an emergency board meeting for 8 a.m. Friday in Seoul to discuss Park's status. It did so believing the CAS would have its decision by late Thursday or in the wee hours of Friday.
A Seoul court ruled last Friday that Park is eligible for the national team and that the KOC has no grounds to keep him from representing the country. In response, the KOC said it would take further steps as necessary once the CAS announces its ruling.
The KOC has been under pressure to modify its rule and allow Park, one of the most iconic athletes in the country, to compete in his fourth Olympics. It has also been criticized for unfairly punishing Park twice for the same offense.
In 2011, the CAS ruled against the International Olympic Committee's "Osaka Rule," which barred athletes with a doping suspension of at least six months from competing in the following Olympics. The CAS said the Osaka Rule, adopted in 2008, was "a violation of the IOC's own statute and is therefore invalid and unenforceable." (Yonhap)