Doping challenge
August 6, 2009
The five-time Olympic champion said she planned to use what she believes are several procedural errors by the International Skating Union (ISU) to challenge the ban.
Flanked by her manager and lawyer, the five-time Olympic gold medallist spoke only briefly during an elaborate press conference in Berlin that included video projections of documents and minute details of test results and procedures.
The ISU last month said the German skater's blood profile had included abnormally high levels of reticulocytes (immature red blood cells) in a series of tests, in particular during February's World Allround Championships in Norway.
The sport's governing body imposed a two-year ban, back-dated to February 9 this year.
Pechstein has since submitted an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). A hearing is set to take place in the autumn.
"I am confident that (the) CAS will decide in our favor on the grounds of this new information," said the athlete's lawyer Simon Bergmann.
Discrepancies in test results
Pechstein also claimed that the same sample taken on April 15 produced different results, with a German laboratory in Kreischa measuring a reticulocyte value of 2.4 per cent compared to 1.3 per cent from one in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Her manager Ralf Grengel also said that barcode numbers on samples were suspect, results in laboratories showed different measurements of the same sample, and other testing procedures were not conducted correctly.
"It shows that the ISU has repeatedly been sloppy in this case," said Grengel after showing two different barcode numbers that allegedly belonged to the same sample.
"How is this possible?" he asked, adding that many of the barcode numbers of samples used by the ISU as evidence to justify the ban did not match.
Pechstein also said that she had only been tested four times so far. Her manager said that someone suspected of using banned substances should have been tested many more times.
The most decorated German Winter Olympian – with five gold, two silver and two bronze medals – Pechstein is the first athlete to be banned over screenings in the biological passport, which is also used in other sports such as cycling and various ski sports.
The 37-year-old Pechstein, a very popular athlete in Germany, alongside fellow skater Anni Friesinger, is still hoping to compete at her sixth successive Winter Games next year. Given her age, that may be her last chance to add to her enviable tally of Olympic medals.
rb/Reuters/dpa
Editor: Susan Houlton