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Thursday, September 28
Arbitrators uphold decision vs. Raducan
Associated Press
SYDNEY, Australia -- Facing the world for the first time
since her numbing disappointment, angelic, 4-foot-10 Andreea
Raducan smiled and spoke loud and clear. In her heart, she
insisted, she knows she did nothing wrong.
But she won't get her gold medal back. All for a dose of cold
medicine.
"All I did was take an innocent pill," Raducan said calmly
after her fate was decided Thursday. "I don't understand why
everything has turned out this way. But in my heart, I am at
peace."
Arbitrators denied the Romanian all-around winner's appeal to
have her gold medal restored, upholding a decision by the
International Olympics Committee. The IOC cited an unbendable drug
policy that couldn't excuse what has been termed a simple doctor's
mistake.
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IOC's response to ruling
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Statement by IOC director-general Francois Carrard:
I have just been informed that the Court of Arbitration for
Sport has decided to reject the appeal filed by the Romanian
athlete Andreea Raducan and to uphold the decision which had been
taken by the IOC executive board to invalidate her result and
withdraw her gold medal in the individual all-around women's
gymnastics competition.
It was a very difficult decision to take for the IOC executive
board. But this ruling demonstrates that it had no option. This has
to be understood within the context of the new, very strict
provisions which are in force within the fight against doping,
which concerns really the entire Olympic movement, all parties
involved, the governments and the world anti-doping agency.
-- Associated Press
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Raducan was supposed to be the next Romanian hero, the first to
win all-around gymnastic gold since Nadia Comaneci in a small
country where great Olympic moments are few and far between.
But she tested positive for the banned stimulant
pseudoephedrine, a drug found in over-the-counter cold medicine,
after the all-around finals.
Even members of the IOC agree there was nothing sinister going
on when the 16-year-old, 84-pound gymnast asked the team doctor for
a decongestant in the hours preceding the meet.
"It's difficult for me to explain to her in my own language
that you're innocent, but you're still not going to get the
medal," Comaneci said Thursday, facing hundreds of cameras
alongside Raducan.
The doctor, since banished from the Olympics through 2004, even
listed the medication on a chart the team submits to drug testers
after meets. But rules are rules, and Raducan fell victim to the
newer, tougher climate of the IOC's war against drugs.
"The panel is aware of the impact of its decision on a fine,
young, elite athlete," the Court of Arbitration for Sport wrote.
"It finds, in balancing the interest of Miss Raducan with the
commitment of the Olympic movement to drug-free sport, the
Anti-Doping Code must be enforced without compromise."
Romanian Olympic Committee Ion Tiriac has gone along with the
IOC's discipline of Romanian athletes for drug-related issues in
these games. Yet this decision confounded him.
"I'm bitter. I'm disappointed," Tiriac said. "I believe the
IOC fights like hell against drugs and so do I. But sooner or
later, we've got to get our house in order. We have to be
consistent and human enough to understand what is a mistake."
IOC members seemed conflicted over the decision they had to
render -- one that will tarnish these games, further sully a
gymnastics meet blasted for an improperly set vault during the
all-around competition, and undoubtedly spark further protests in
Romania.
Still, they were at the court to defend their decision Wednesday
when arbitrators began hearing Raducan's case. And while they
expressed regret, they wouldn't back down when the arbitration
decision was rendered.
"It was a very difficult decision to take for the IOC executive
board," IOC director-general Francois Carrard said. "But this
ruling demonstrates that it had no option. This has to be
understood within the context of the new, very strict provisions
which are in force within the fight against doping."
With the decision made, Raducan's Romanian teammate Simona
Amanar will get the gold medal. Another Romanian, Maria Olaru,
moves from bronze to silver. Fourth-place finisher Liu Xuan of
China gets the bronze.
"For me, this medal doesn't mean anything," Amanar said.
"I'll accept it because it belongs to Romania. But I know it
belongs to Andreea. She's the Olympic champion."
"I don't understand why we didn't win this case," Olaru said.
"I don't understand why, always, the little people have to suffer
for the mistakes of the big people."
Raducan will leave Sydney with a team gold, a silver medal for
her performance on the vault and a lot of unanswered questions.
Her memories of a sparkling Olympics will always seem tainted --
sort of like the result itself. But she's not stopping here.
"I'm going to go ahead and prove to everyone that I can go
higher than I was in Sydney and prove to those who say I made the
mistake that I'm the person I say I am," she said.
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