Long Track Speed Skating

GENEVA - German speedskater Claudia Pechstein on Wednesday lost her bid to compete in her sixth straight Winter Olympics after the Court of Arbitration of Sport (CAS) upheld her two-year doping ban.

The case sets a precedent as sports highest court accepted the validity of the biological passport in the fight against doping.

The International Skating Union imposed the suspension for blood doping on the five-time Olympic and six-time world champion in July.

Pechstein, who became the first athlete to be banned over screenings in her biological passport, had vehemently disputed the case against her and appealed to the CAS, claiming laboratory errors in the tests used to condemn her.

The 37-year-old Pechstein was allowed to train but not to compete in official events while her appeal was considered.

But after hearing the arguments of several experts the CAS found that the athlete was responsible for the "illicit manipulation of her own blood."

The suspension will effectively end the career of the Berlin-based skater who is also facing disciplinary procedures by her employers - the German federal police.

But Pechstein refused to concede defeat and insisted that she was being used as a scapegoat to set a precedent.

"I've never taken drugs and my conscience is clear," she said.
"That I can be suspended without proof on the basis of a single finding which is still very disputed by science remains incomprehensible for me.

"I'm firmly convinced that I was sentenced because behind the scenes there were forces who did not want to see an indirect proof fail in this case which has set a precedent."

"I don't consider myself beaten in any way. The legal process will finish once justice has been done."

Her lawyer Simon Bergmann confirmed that they would be continuing their battle before the Swiss federal court in Lausanne.

And Pechstein has not given up hope of competing in Vancouver next February. "I've no idea whether qualification for the Olympic Games is possible," she added.