PRESS RELEASE SPEED SKATING
CASE PECHSTEIN : THE 2-YEAR BAN CONFIRMED BY
THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT
Lausanne, 25 November 2009 - The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rendered its final
decision in the arbitration concerning the German speed skater Claudia Pechstein. The CAS has
dismissed the appeals filed by the athlete and the German Speedskating Association and has
confirmed the decision of the Disciplinary Commission of the International Skating Union which
imposed a two-year ban on Claudia Pechstein.
On the occasion of the ISU World Speedskating Championships in Hamar, Norway, in February
2009, blood samples were taken from all athletes for screening purposes. The percentage of
reticulocytes value was measured at 3.49 for Claudia Pechstein. During the same event, two
more blood samples were collected and showed values of 3.54 and 3.38. Ten days after the
Hamar event, an out-of-competition blood sample was collected from the athlete, showing a
percentage of reticulocytes value of 1.37. On 1 July 2009, the ISU Disciplinary Commission
declared Claudia Pechstein responsible for an anti-doping violation under art. 2.2 of the ISU
Anti-Doping Regulations by using the prohibited method of blood doping.
Claudia Pechstein and the German Speedskating Association (DESG) both filed appeals with the
Court of Arbitration for Sport requesting the annulment of the ISU decision. Ms Pechstein put
forward that she had not violated any anti-doping rule and contested that the percentage of
reticulocytes values measured in Hamar were the result of the application of a prohibited
substance or method. The athlete asserted that the upper limit of 2.4 in percentage of
reticulocytes referred to by the ISU is not a generally accepted limit in medical practice. She
stated that her high values were due to a blood disease. She also considered that the data
collected by the ISU on the basis of blood screening were unreliable and unlikely to be of
statistical or medical value for a number of reasons, such as cold temperature, altitude, physical
stress due to intense exercise, foot pressure due to ice skates and blades, bleeding and an
infection incurred in January 2009. Finally, the athlete expressed the view that the machine used
for the blood analysis was subject to substantial fluctuations if it was not properly calibrated.
The case was referred to a Panel of CAS arbitrators composed of Prof. Massimo Coccia, Italy
(President), Dr Stephan Netzle, Switzerland, and Mr Michele Bernasconi, Switzerland. A
hearing was held at the CAS headquarters in Lausanne on 22 and 23 October 2009 during which
the parties, their legal representatives and twelve witnesses and experts were heard.
The CAS Panel has decided to dismiss the appeals and to confirm the sanction imposed by the
ISU Disciplinary Commission. The commencement date of the suspension has been fixed on 8
February 2009.
In summary, the CAS Panel has rejected the Appellants' arguments related to the sample
collection and the analysis procedure and found that the calibration procedure established by the
manufacturer of the automatic blood analyser used by the ISU was reliable. Furthermore, the
CAS Panel found that the percentage of reticulocytes values shown by the athlete in Hamar on 6
and 7 February 2009 constituted abnormal values in comparison with both the general
population in Europe and other elite speed skaters, as well as in comparison with her own usual
values. The Panel also found that the variations in the athlete's percentage of reticulocytes from
1.74 on 8 January 2009 to 3.49 on 6 February 2009 and then down again to 1.37 on 18 February
2009 was abnormal.
The Panel found that the above abnormality could not be reasonably explained by the various
justifications submitted by the athlete nor by a congenital medical condition, as the expert
hematologist chosen by athlete examined her in depth and concluded that there were no signs of
any detectable blood disease or anomaly.
The CAS Panel concluded as follows:
As a result, in exercising its discretion to consider the evidence submitted by the parties, the
Panel, bearing in mind the seriousness of the allegation, and based on all the considerations
made above, finds that the ISU has discharged its burden of proving to the comfortable
satisfaction of the Panel that the abnormal values of percentage of reticulocytes recorded by
Ms Pechstein in Hamar on 6 and 7 February 2009, and the subsequent sharp drop recorded on
18 February 2009, cannot be reasonably explained by any congenital or subsequently developed
abnormality. The Panel finds that they must, therefore, derive from the Athlete’s illicit
manipulation of her own blood, which remains the only reasonable alternative source of such
abnormal values.
The full award with the grounds is published on the CAS website http://www.tas-cas.org/recentdecision.
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