A German court on Thursday "allowed a lawsuit by five-time Olympic champion Claudia Pechstein seeking damages from the International Skating Union over a doping ban to be heard, handing her a key win in her ongoing battle with the ISU," according to Karolos Grohmann of REUTERS.
It is the first time a German civil court "has allowed a case to be heard after the world's top sports court, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), has ruled against it, setting a precedent for potential similar cases." Pechstein: "I now have the chance in a proper court, a German court. There I am confident because the ISU must now prove that I doped. There will never be a positive test from me and that is why I am confident." The 42-year-old "was banned by the ISU for two years in 2009 over irregular blood results, although she never failed a drugs test." Pechstein "continued to protest her innocence and took her case to the CAS which upheld the suspension," before then turning to German courts and demanding more than €4M ($4.67M) in damages over lost revenues due to the suspension (REUTERS, 1/15).
