(Reuters) – Italian former Olympic 50km walk champion Alex Schwazer had his appeal against an eight-year doping ban dismissed on Friday by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Schwazer filed a “request for provisional measures” in an attempt to take part in this year’s Olympics after an Italian court cleared him of doping and ruled that World Athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) had been “opaque” during his case, Italy’s Ansa news agency reported.
“The Court of Arbitration for Sport has dismissed an urgent request for provisional measures filed by Alex Schwazer who sought an order from CAS to have his 8-year suspension lifted,” CAS said in a statement.
“Schwazer filed a statement … on April 29 following a letter issued by World Athletics and WADA declining to reinstate him before the end of the period of ineligibility.”
Schwazer, the 2008 Olympic champion, was banned for three years and nine months after admitting using the erythropoietin (EPO) blood booster in 2012.
He returned to win the world championship title in 2016, but was then banned for eight years and missed the Rio Olympics after losing an appeal in a second doping case, when a retest of a sample showed traces of steroids.
A Bolzano court last month offered a full acquittal, saying it was “highly likely” that Schwazer’s urine samples were tampered with in 2016 to produce a positive test and that he “did not commit the crime”.
WADA, in a harshly worded statement, rejected the defamatory criticism contained in the decision and said they were shocked by the “very serious” allegations.
ANSA said Schwazer was now awaiting a ruling from the Swiss Federal Court.
(Reporting by Arvind Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
