Italian Olympic Committee
(CONI) President Giovanni Malagò said Wednesday that he would
have done the same as Caroline Kostner when she told inspectors
that her ex boyfriend was not with her after they turned up on
her doorstep for a doping test.
CONI prosecutors have requested former figure staking
world champion Kostner be banned for four years, three months
for allegedly helping her former boyfriend, 2008 50km walk
Olympic champion Alex Schwazer, break anti-doping violations.
The 27-year-old, who won gold at the 2012 figure-skating
world championship and bronze at this year's Winter Olympics in
Sochi, is also charged with failing to report doping offences to
the authorities.
Schwazer has been banned from competition until January
2016 after testing positive for the illegal blood-booster EPO
just before the London Olympics.
CONI prosecutors opened a case against Kostner after media
reports that she confessed to criminal prosecutors that she
helped Schwazer dodge a surprise doping test in July 2012.
"What would I have done if the inspectors were looking for
my boyfriend? I'd have said he's not here, if I were convinced
that it wouldn't have been a problem, which is what she did
think," Malagò said.
"I'm really supporting Carolina without creating problems
with the existing rules, which are perhaps written badly and
penalise her".
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