Former Olympic swimming champion Park Tae-hwan is taking legal steps at home in addition to his international appeal over an Olympic ban.
Park's legal representatives said on Thursday they have applied for an injunction at the Seoul Eastern District Court on behalf of the swimmer, in a bid to force the Korean Olympic Committee to obey a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in favor of Park.
(Yonhap)
Because of his doping history, Park, the 2008 Olympic champion in 400m freestyle, has been ruled out of this year's Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The KOC blocks athletes who've served doping suspensions from representing the country for three years, starting on the day that their suspensions end.
Park has taken his case to the top sports tribunal. The Lausanne, Switzerland-baed organization has yet to rule on Park, but the swimmer has requested "provisional measures," which will be reached no later than July 5.
"Through the local court's decision, we want to secure the binding power of the CAS ruling," said Lim Sung-woo, an attorney at law firm Lee & Ko, at a press conference in Seoul. "Since the KOC has been hinting at ignoring the CAS ruling, we want the local court to make the KOC follow it."
Lim added, theoretically, the CAS may hand out a different final ruling than its provisional measures, but it's highly unlikely to do so.
Park, 26, served an 18-month ban by FINA, the international swimming governing body. The ban began retroactively in September 2014 and ended in March of this year.
Park first filed an appeal against the KOC rule at the CAS on April 26. He then asked the arbitration procedure to be put on hold so he could speak to the KOC before taking further legal steps. He had been scheduled to meet with the KOC on May 25 but postponed the talks indefinitely without providing a reason.
After the KOC reaffirmed its opposition to amend the rule at the board meeting on June 15, Park asked the CAS to resume its arbitration proceedings.
In the process, Park's side first asked the KOC to agree on the CAS' "expedited procedure," so that they can get a quick decision.
However, Lim claimed the KOC has been trying to delay the process by remaining idle, not responding to the top sports tribunal's request and even neglecting to nominate an arbitrator.
Park's camp has been hoping for a fast-track ruling, so that the swimmer would still have a chance to compete at Rio Games should the CAS rule in his favor. The deadline to finalize the national team swimming roster is July 18. Park was left off the preliminary roster announced on May 11.
Because of the KOC's time-delaying tactics, Lim said he has applied for the CAS' provisional measures, which won't require agreements from the two conflicting sides.
Based on history and precedents, Lim believes that the CAS will rule in favor of Park. In 2011, the CAS handed down a decision against the International Olympic Committee's "Osaka Rule," which barred athletes who had served a doping suspension for at least half a year from competing in the following Olympics. The CAS said the Osaka Rule, adopted in 2008, was "a violation of the IOC's own statute and is therefore invalid and unenforceable."
"This case should be solved based on the CAS ruling," he said.
"But the problem is whether the KOC will accept the decision and take quick actions to send Park to Rio on time." (Yonhap)
