Japan short track skater sent home from Games for failed test

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea (Reuters) – Japanese short track speed skater Kei Saito failed an out-of-competition doping test on the day of his arrival in Pyeongchang and has been expelled from the Winter Olympics, Japan team officials said on Tuesday.

Saito, a reserve athlete who had not yet competed in South Korea, was provisionally suspended after testing positive for masking agent acetalozamide and a final ruling would be issued after the Games, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said.

Masking agents are often used to cover up banned performance-enhancing substances.

This is the first doping case during the testing period of the Olympics in South Korea and comes as Tokyo prepares to host the Summer Games in 2020.

Team Japan officials said Saito was tested hours after arriving in the athletes’ village on Feb 4.

The athlete said he was stunned by the finding.

“I am shocked by this as I have never tried to commit doping,” Saito said in a statement.

”I have been trained in anti-doping. I have never taken a steroid so there is no need for me to mask something, and I never had to drop weight by using this medicine.

  

Team chief Yasuo Saito said the athlete had also been tested at a training camp on Jan. 29 on the order of the International Skating Union (ISU) and his test was negative.

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“We respect the athlete and his will and intentions, and in conjunction with the Japanese skating federation we will continue to look into this matter with all our means,” he added.

The team chief said it was “inexplicable” how the athlete could have tested positive but in order not to burden his team mates he agreed with the International Olympic Committee proposal to have him removed from the Games.

He added that while the suspension was only provisional it was better for the athlete to leave as there was no time to clear his name.

“There was no opportunity to prove his innocence during the Olympic Games. It was a difficult decision, one he did not want to take, but he accepted to leave the Olympic village so as not to cause problems for his fellow team members,” the team chief said.

Doping cases are rare among Japanese athletes and this is the first for the country at a Winter Olympics.

Last month, however, sprint canoeist Yasuhiro Suzuki admitted to spiking a rival’s drink with an anabolic steroid to scuttle his Olympic dream, and was banned for eight years.

He now faces a lifetime ban from the Japan canoe federation.

Winter Olympics: IOC monitoring North Korea crisis

BERLIN – The International Olympic Committee said on Thursday it was “closely monitoring” rising tensions on the Korean peninsula, less than 200 days before the 2018 Winter Olympics are set to begin in South Korea’s Pyeongchang.

The Games return to the country next year for the first time since the 1988 summer Olympics in Seoul. But what would be the first winter Games in Asia outside Japan and the first of three consecutive Olympics on the continent risk being overshadowed by the mounting crisis involving North Korea.

The reclusive North’s apparent progress in developing nuclear weapons and missiles capable of hitting the U.S. mainland led to a war of words this week between the two countries, unnerving regional powers.

President Donald Trump said the United States would respond with “fire and fury” if North Korea threatened it. North Korea dismissed the warnings and outlined detailed plans for a missile strike near the U.S. Pacific territory of Guam.

Experts in South Korea said the plans for an attack around Guam ratcheted up risks significantly, since Washington was likely to view any missile aimed at its territory as a provocation, even if it were launched as a test.

“We are monitoring the situation on the Korean peninsula and the region very closely,” an IOC spokesperson said. “The IOC is keeping itself informed about the developments. We continue working with the organising committee on the preparations of these Games, which continue to be on track.”

South Korea had failed twice to land the winter Olympics of 2010 and 2014 but succeeded in getting the nod in 2011 for the 2018 edition, which is scheduled for Feb. 9-25.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said last month the North will be given until the last minute to decide whether it will take part in the Olympics. He wants to get North Korea involved, even though none of its athletes have met the qualification standards.
His proposal for a unified team has already been turned down by a top North Korean sports official as unrealistic in the current political climate.

(Reuters)