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Hardy beats Wada in doping court case
The top court in sports ruled in favour of American swimmer Jessica Hardy on Friday, rejecting the World Anti-Doping Agency's (Wada's) appeal to extend her doping ban.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Wada's appeal to lengthen the ban from one to two years, but offered no ruling on whether Hardy should be allowed to compete at the 2012 London Olympics.
Hardy tested positive for clenbuterol at the US Olympic trials in July 2008 and missed the Beijing Games.
The CAS panel of three lawyers accepted she was not to blame for the failed test, and had unknowingly taken the banned anabolic agent in a contaminated food supplement.
She served a one-year ban and set several breaststroke world records after returning to swimming last year.
The International Olympic Committee must now decide whether to apply a rule which bars athletes from the next Olympics if they serve a doping ban of at least six months.
Hardy's legal team had asked CAS to rule on her Olympic status at a hearing held in New York in March.
"The CAS Panel rejected the request to have the IOC joined in the arbitration procedure and did not issue any opinion on the applicability of Rule 45 of the Olympic Charter," the court said in a statement.
The IOC said Friday that the rule took effect on July 1, 2008 - three days before Hardy provided the sample that led to the failed test.
Wada said it accepted the CAS ruling.
"Wada is satisfied that CAS fully scrutinised this case and abides by the CAS ruling," Wada director general David Howman said in a statement.
Friday's ruling allows Hardy to keep the world records in the 50- and 100m breaststroke, and the 50m short-course breaststroke.
"I am extremely happy to put this case behind me, and to start looking forward," Hardy said in a statement released through her attorney, Howard Jacobs. "When I returned to competition last summer, under the stress of Wada's appeal, I proved that my prior successes, including at the Olympic trials, were achieved solely through hard work and discipline, with no shortcuts."
Hardy also retains the $100 000 first prize she earned as the top woman swimmer on the five-meet World Cup circuit.
"Now that Wada's appeal has been dismissed, I expect even greater success in the months and years to come," she said. "I look forward to again representing my country, and will continue my preparation and climb toward the 2012 Olympic Games."
The CAS panel agreed with the American Arbitration Association's decision in May 2009 that Hardy should be spared a longer ban because she was not at fault for the positive test.
Hardy "had shown good faith efforts before ingesting the food supplements at stake," the court said.
"She had made the research and investigation which could reasonably be expected from an informed athlete wishing to avoid risks connected to the use of food supplements. The supplements she took were not labeled in a manner which might have raised suspicions."
Hardy used a powdered supplement called Arginine Extreme made by one of her sponsors, Advocare International of Carrollton, Texas.
Wada went to CAS to challenge the American tribunal's ruling,
and wanted the 23-year-old swimmer to serve a fresh two-year
suspension.
