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Decision on Raducan delayed a day Associated Press SYDNEY, Australia -- Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan must wait another day to learn if she'll get her gold medal back. The Court of Arbitration for Sport promised a decision Thursday on whether the IOC should return the medal it took from the 16-year-old all-around winner for taking two cold pills containing a banned substance. The court met for 4½ hours Wednesday before recessing for the day. The Romanians argued that the penalty was too harsh because the 4-foot-10, 82-pound Raducan had simply taken the medicine to cure a cold. The substance, pseudoephedrine, is listed as a stimulant by the International Olympic Committee. "I cannot make any comments. They haven't made a decision yet," said Francois Carrard, the IOC's director general, who defended the decision at the arbitration hearing. Dressed in street clothes and wearing her Romanian warmup jacket, Raducan exited the courtroom first and appeared to be in good spirits. She was followed by Ion Tiriac, Romania's Olympic committee president, and teammates Simona Amanar and Maria Olaru, who won silver and bronze in the all-around. The pint-sized Raducan, often compared to Romanian star Nadia Comaneci, declined comment as she climbed into a car. The Court of Arbitration for Sport is an independent, international body created to resolve disputes over discipline and contracts. Based in Lausanne, Switzerland, the court establishes a branch during every Olympics to hear disputes relating to the games. Tricia Kavanagh of Australia, Stephan Netzle of Switzerland and Maidie Oliveau of the United States are the arbitrators hearing Raducan's case. Since the Sydney Olympics began, the court has overturned a drug-related ban and allowed a Bulgarian weightlifter to compete. The weightlifter, Alan Tsagaev, won a silver medal in the 231-pound class. The court's most famous case came at the Nagano Olympics, when it restored Canadian snowboarder Ross Rebagliati's gold medal after he tested positive for marijuana. The court said the IOC couldn't take Rebagliati's medal because it didn't have an agreement with the international ski federation governing marijuana use. In Raducan's case, the Romanian team doctor who gave her the pills has been expelled from the Sydney Games and suspended through the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake and 2004 Summer Games in Athens. Raducan was allowed to keep her gold from the team competition and silver in the vault final. The Romanians have maintained their star shouldn't be penalized for a doctor's mistake and have threatened to return all the medals if they don't win their case, Romanian national TV reported. Carrard, however, has said: "Doping is the presence of a prohibited substance in the body. There is no room for individual sympathy." Added Jacques Rogge, the vice chairman of the IOC's medical commission, "It's a painful decision. This is one of the worst experiences I have had in my Olympic life. Having to strip the gold medal from the individual for something she didn't intentionally do was very tough." Even the IOC acknowledged that Raducan's case is not like most others. She took a common cold medicine, and it provided "no competitive advantage at that competition," Carrard said. But she still had a banned substance in her body, said Dick Pound, IOC vice president and head of the World Anti-Doping Agency. "You just can't leave the field of competition with a gold medal if you've tested positive," Pound said. "Whatever the cause, you've potentially affected the competition." In Romania, thousands of citizens took to the streets Wednesday demanding that the all-around medal be returned. Raducan's father and others claimed there was a foreign plot to demoralize the country's athletes by accusing them of illegal doping. Conspiracy theories are a way of life in Romania, as in much of the Balkans. A song titled "Song for Andreea Raducan" was broadcast on television stations. "We love you. Don't cry," one line went. "With us by your side, it is easy to win." "Those people on the (International) Olympic Committee are not human. They don't know what her work means," said 14-year-old Cristina Giurgiu. "She will always be the champion for us." Speaking on private television Pro-TV from Sydney, a wan-looking Raducan called the experience of losing medal "these nightmare days." |  | ALSO SEE Report: Romania protests Raducan ruling by returning other medals Sorting out the IOC's new doping policy World record-holding hammer thrower escorted off Olympic track Cold medicine strips all-around gymnastics champ of gold USA Track & Field, Hunter under fire for doping cover-ups | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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