Latvian bobsledder cleared to compete

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Setting aside objections from the International Olympic Committee, a sports arbitration panel ruled Tuesday that a Latvian bobsledder can compete in the Winter Games despite a positive drug test.

The IOC banned Sandis Prusis last Friday, overruling the International Bobsled Federation. Prusis appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, a panel designed to keep eligibility disputes out of the courts.

The court ruled that, unless the IOC can prove that a sports federation had violated the Olympic charter, it cannot take an action that would compromise the independence of the sports federation. It reaffirmed that sports federations "can decide how to deal with doping offenses which come within their jurisdiction."

Prusis, pilot of the two-man and four-man Latvian sleds, tested positive for the steroid nandralone after a Nov. 9 training run at the Olympic track in Park City, Utah. The bobsled federation then banned him on Jan. 7 from World Cup competition and the Olympics.

But Prusis and Latvian Olympic officials appealed, blaming the positive test on dietary supplements. The bobsled federation agreed, and imposed a three-month retroactive suspension on Prusis that was to end Feb. 9, making him eligible for the Winter Games.

The IOC, however, said the timing of a three-month ban had been "carved out" to allow Prusis to compete against the spirit of anti-doping efforts.

"The decision sends a strong and unambiguous message to the IOC that it cannot arbitrarily and without any prior notice penalize an Olympic athlete who already has been penalized by the athlete's international federation and served their penalty," said attorney Erik A. Christiansen, who represents Prusis.

Christiansen also said the ruling showed the IOC cannot "capriciously substitute its own judgment for the decision of the independent international federations."

This was the first drug case before the IOC in Salt Lake City. The games open Feb. 8, and the bobsled competition begins Feb. 16.

 

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