PYEONGCHANG, South Korea: Japanese short-track speedskater Kei Saito has tested positive for a banned diuretic in the first doping case of the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Saito, a reserve on the 5,000-meter relay team, tested positive for acetalozamide, which can be used to treat conditions such as glaucoma and altitude sickness but can also be a masking agent to disguise the use of other banned substances.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport announced the case Tuesday, saying Saito “accepted on a voluntary basis to be provisionally suspended and to leave the Olympic Village.”
Saito did not race in any event before the test result from a pre-competition sample was confirmed. CAS said its judging panel handling Olympic doping cases will issue a final verdict after the games are over.
The Japanese Olympic Committee said Saito was tested after training on February 4, just before he went to bed in the athletes village.
In a statement, Saito denied intentionally doping and said he was “extremely shocked” by the results.
“I have never considered doping. I have never used anabolic steroids so I have never needed to try to hide it,” he said in the statement.
He said he accepted the provisional suspension because “I do not want to be a disturbance to my teammates competing at the Olympic Games ... and will leave the team and the athletes village voluntarily.”
Yasuo Saito, Vice President of the Japan Olympic Committee, said the JOC would work to help the 21-year-old skater clear his name after the Olympics.
“At this point, all we know is that the sample A and sample B tested positive. It is impossible for us to submit any evidence that prove them otherwise during the limited time,” Japan’s delegation leader said. “That is why we had to go with the provisional measure. The violation of the anti-doping rules has not been proven, so it is not decided yet. So please understand that point.
“Saito has no idea why this has happened, so we as Japanese Olympic team continue to make every effort to prove that there was no anti-rule violation by Kei Saito.”
Japanese skater suspended in first doping case in Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
Japanese skater suspended in first doping case in Pyeongchang Winter Olympics
Cambodia pulls out of SEA Games in Thailand over border conflict
- At least 11 soldiers and civilians have been killed on both sides, according to officials, as renewed hostilities derailed a US-brokered truce
- Cambodia had already pulled out of eight sports at the Thailand-hosted Games, but National Olympic Committee of Cambodia chief Vath Chamroeun wrote in a letter Wednesday to the Southeast Asian Games Federation that it would bring all of the country’s athl
BANGKOK: Cambodia withdrew on Wednesday from the Southeast Asian Games, an Olympic official said, as a border conflict with hosts Thailand escalated and forced a mass exodus of civilians from both sides of the disputed frontier.
At least 11 soldiers and civilians have been killed on both sides, according to officials, as renewed hostilities derailed a US-brokered truce.
Cambodia had already pulled out of eight sports at the Thailand-hosted Games, but National Olympic Committee of Cambodia (NOCC) chief Vath Chamroeun wrote in a letter Wednesday to the Southeast Asian Games Federation that it would bring all of the country’s athletes home.
“Due to serious concerns and requests from the families of our athletes to have their relatives return home immediately, NOCC must withdraw all of our delegation and arrange for their prompt return to Cambodia for safety reasons,” he wrote.
The Games officially opened on Tuesday and run until Dec. 20 in Bangkok and the nearby coastal province of Chonburi, with thousands of athletes from southeast Asian countries competing in events ranging from football and fencing to skateboarding, sailing and combat sports.
But renewed fighting this week between Thailand and Cambodia over a long-standing border dispute has overshadowed the Games.
There was tightened security at Tuesday’s opening ceremony at the Rajamangala National Stadium in Bangkok attended by Thai royals and featuring Thai K-pop idol BamBam.
A small delegation from Cambodia took part in the athletes’ parade.
This week’s clashes are the deadliest since five days of fighting in July that killed dozens before a shaky truce was agreed, in large part owing to intervention by US President Donald Trump.
Both sides blame each other for sparking the renewed clashes, which on Tuesday expanded to five provinces of both Thailand and Cambodia, according to an AFP tally of official accounts.
More than 500,000 people have fled their homes to safety in Thailand and Cambodia since the conflict reignited, both governments said on Wednesday, surpassing the total number evacuated during similar clashes earlier this year.
The dispute centers on a century-old disagreement over borders mapped during France’s colonial rule in the region, with both sides claiming a smattering of boundary temples.
