Mathias Flückiger achieves the next victory on his way to full exoneration from the allegations of anti-doping rule violations. SSI does not take his case to the CAS.
07.08.2024, 12:00
07.08.2024, 13:06
SDA
In what is probably his most difficult and longest competition, Flückiger can look forward to the next piece of good news. This time he hears good news from Swiss Sport Integrity (SSI), Switzerland's former anti-doping agency.
The SSI will not appeal to the International Court of Justice (CAS) after studying the documents relating to the decision of the Disciplinary Commission of Swiss Sport (DC) to acquit Flückiger of all doping charges. The DK communicated its decision, which was made on May 24, 2024, in mid-July.
The DK justified its decision by stating that the sample taken from the Bernese mountain biker on June 5, 2022 and the result of the analysis cannot be used. The DK's main argument was that the documentation of the sample's chain of custody was incomplete, which was to be regarded as a gross procedural irregularity and therefore led to the sample not being usable.
SSI has analyzed the justification in detail. The panel is still firmly of the opinion that the sample can be used in accordance with the rules of the World Anti-Doping Program and the case law of the CAS. However, having weighed up the interests involved and in view of the fact that the question of the usability of the urine sample is only a limited sub-issue of the overall proceedings, SSI has decided not to refer the decision of the DC to CAS.
Among other things, the already very long duration of the proceedings, a consideration of the litigation risks and the expected high costs of such complex and lengthy CAS proceedings were taken into account in the decision. SSI is of the opinion that the integrity of sport is not impaired by this decision.
Further incomprehensible aspects
Flückiger is not surprised by the latest development. "The 106-page reasoning of the DK was extremely well-founded and very damning for SSI, so that an appeal to CAS would have been futile. The verdict shows that my sample should never have been assessed as positive. I was wrongly banned for more than four months."
Nevertheless, there are aspects that remain incomprehensible to Flückiger almost two years after the unfounded accusations began. "The fact that none of the institutions involved have admitted their own mistakes to this day and lack any insight into their own misconduct is not only disappointing, but shocking."
Flückiger tested positive for the extremely rarely detected anabolic agent zeranol at the Swiss Cross-Country Championships at the beginning of June last year. As a result, SSI imposed a provisional ban on the 2021 Olympic silver medalist immediately before the European Championships in Munich on August 18. Four months after the positive doping test was announced, the Disciplinary Chamber of Swiss Sport lifted the suspension.
Decision not yet legally binding
The decision of the Disciplinary Chamber is not yet legally binding. It can still be appealed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and World Cycling (UCI) due to other appeal deadlines.
