2 February 2015

German Olympic Committee asks ISU to reopen Pechstein case

The German Olympic Committee (DOSB) has asked the International Skating Union (ISU) to consider a retrial of Claudia Pechstein (pictured), after a Munich court allowed the speed skater to proceed in a compensation claim against the ISU for a 2009 doping ban, despite her case being dismissed at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). “We appeal to the ISU to consider a retrial”, said DOSB President Alfons Hörmann in a 29 January statement, after advice it sought from five medical experts ‘independently came to the conclusion that the medical evaluation, which was the basis of the judgment against…Pechstein, was wrong’.

The DOSB said that it had decided to seek the opinion of medical experts because of ‘a great responsibility that it holds towards its athletes’. It said that ‘all evaluators concluded that the detection of doping cannot be conducted based on the basis of blood profiles and the reticulocyte characteristics of Claudia Pechstein’.

On 15 January, the Munich court (Oberlandesgericht München) declared the agreement to arbitrate all cases before the CAS as void, due to Pechstein having no choice but to sign in order to compete. It accepted Pechstein’s December 2012 claim for damages from the ISU and declared a 2009 CAS decision upholding the ISU’s ban as ineligible. It is understood that the ISU is appealing the Munich court decision at the German federal court (Bundesgerichtshof). If it follows the lead of the Munich court, this could allow other German athletes to bring claims before State courts.

In 2009, the Court of Arbitration (CAS) dismissed her appeal against her two-year ban, which was later supported by the Swiss Federal Tribunal. In December 2012, Pechstein submitted a claim for €4.4 million to the Munich court. Pechstein has always maintained her innocence, arguing that the readings were due to a genetic abnormality and are, in any case, unreliable. You can read more about the history of the Pechstein case here.

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