South Korean Olympic swimming champ Park Tae-hwan, recently suspended for a positive doping test caused by a controversial injection, claimed Friday that he didn’t know he’d been administered hormones until after learning the test results.
At a press conference held in Seoul Friday, his first public appearance since FINA, the international swimming governing body, slapped him with an 18-month ban on Monday, Park said he’d visited a Seoul hospital in July to treat a skin condition.
When Park’s positive test was first revealed in January, the swimmer quickly pointed the finger at a doctor at the hospital, saying he had given the swimmer a shot without fully informing Park of its contents.
The doctor has been indicted on charges of professional negligence and will stand trial in April.
Park rejected allegations that he’d visited the doctor to increase his hormone level.
“I didn’t know I had a low hormone level until after I learned of the positive tests (in November),” he said. “I had no idea the injection was to boost my hormone level. I didn’t go to the hospital for hormones, but to treat dry skin.”
Park said the doctor prescribed him some vitamins, but insisted he wouldn’t take any chances, even if it seemed like an innocuous medicine.
“I repeatedly told him that I couldn’t take anything that could risk a positive doping test, and that I had to be careful,” Park said. “The doctor assured me there would be no problems and that I didn’t have to worry. And when I tested positive after all this, the world came crashing down on me. I couldn’t believe it.”
Park also denied that he’d received another injection in December 2013. Asked if he’d be willing to reveal his medical record, Park’s attorney, Woo Sang-yoon, said it’d be best to withhold such information while a criminal trial was underway. (Yonhap)
