A team of South Korean sports officials met on Friday to discuss preparations for an upcoming doping hearing for Park Tae-hwan, a beleaguered swimmer who recently tested positive for testosterone.
Representatives from the Korean Olympic Committee, the Korea Swimming Federation and from Park’s camp met behind closed doors on Friday in Seoul.
FINA, the international governing body of swimming, has set a hearing for Park on Feb. 27 in Lausanne, Switzerland. Park has already hired a Switzerland-based legal representative with expertise in doping cases.
Park, a four-time Olympic medalist and two-time world champ, submitted two urine samples to FINA on Sept. 3, as he was training for the Asian Games in the South Korean city of Incheon that opened later the same month. Both of his samples came out positive.
Park, however, passed three doping tests during the Asian Games, the competition’s organizing committee said in a statement earlier this week.
Park is blaming an injection given by a doctor at a Seoul hospital for the positive results. State prosecutors investigating charges of the doctor’s professional negligence said the injection contained testosterone, a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency.
