Swiss federal court rejects Raducan appeal
Switzerland's federal court has rejected an appeal by the Romanian gymnast, Andreea Raducan, to regain the Olympic gold medal that was stripped from her after testing positive in a drugs test.
Raducan lost her all-round title at this year’s Sydney Olympic games because she was found to carry the banned substance pseudo-ephedrine, contained in a cold remedy.
She turned to the Swiss court after an earlier appeal was dismissed by the Court of Arbitration for Sports.
The secretary-general of the Swiss-based International Olympic Committee, Francois Carrard, said that her latest appeal had also failed: “The Court decided that there were no grounds for the Raducan case and rejected it. At first look, they determined it was without merit and threw it out.”
Carrard added that the decision came as no surprise. “The grounds for appeal are very narrow. You have to show that the tribunal ignored some important material or facts and in this instance it did not happen,” he said.
Raducan was disqualified even though the IOC acknowledged that the drug, administered by a Romanian team doctor, gave her no competitive edge.
Raducan filed the lawsuit against the IOC under a provision of Romanian law which permits suits for moral damage.
The gymnast keeps two other medals; a gold for the team event and a silver for the vault.
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