The Swiss federal court on Friday
turned down an appeal by 2008 Olympic 50k walk champ Alex
Schwazer against his doping ban, dashing his last hope of being
able to take part in the Tokyo Olympics. .
The decision comes after the Court of Arbitration for Sport
(CAS) also rejected a bid by Schwazer for provisional measures
enabling him to take part in this year's Olympics on the basis
of an Italian judge's ruling that cleared him of doping and
ruled that the World Athletics Federation and the World
Anti-Doping Agency had acted improperly in his case.
"It's truly a pity because Alex was in great shape," the race
walker's lawyer, Gerhard Brandstaetter, told ANSA.
"Alex is 36 now and, over the last few years, he has made his
bones.
"He has realized that there is a closed world united against
him".
Schwazer, who was suspended for eight years just before the 2016
Olympics for testing positive for anabolic steroids, says he was
the victim of foul play.
In February a judge in the northern city of Bolzano said the
international athletics federation (IAAF) and the world
anti-doping agency (WADA) had been "opaque" in the long-running
case, which forced Schwazer to retire from the 2016 Olympics.
The court was highly critical of the two organisations.
WADA said it was horrified by the ruling clearing Schwazer of
doping, saying it had been defamed by the judge's findings the
athlete's urine samples had been deliberately tampered with.
Investigating Judge Walter Pelino in Bolzano ruled for a
dismissal of the case against Schwazer "for not having committed
the crime".
Schwazer has admitted a previous doping case, in 2012, which
forced him to pull out of that year's Olympics.
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