The World Anti-Doping Agency
(WADA) on Tuesday asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
to lengthen a 16-month Italian ban for skater Carolina Kostner
to 2-4 years for helping her ex-boyfriend Alex Schwazer dodge a
drugs test.
Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) prosecutors had initially
requested a four-year ban for former world champion Kostner for
her role in the violations by Schwazer, the 2008 50km walk
Olympic champion.
However, Italy's anti-doping tribunal opted for the
16-month ban, explaining that Kostner did not know Schwazer was
using drugs, adding that even though she "knowingly lied" to a
WADA inspector, it considered "the attenuating circumstance"
that she was in love.
Kostner, who won gold at the 2012 figure-skating world
championship and bronze at the 2014 Winter Olympics in
Sochi, was 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.
Kostner is also appealing the 16-month ban, according to a
statement from the court of arbitration.
It said that she "principally (is) seeking its annulment
and a declaration that she did not commit any breach of the
anti-doping rules".
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