The ruling body ISU has confirmed it has reached a settlement with German speed skater Claudia Pechstein in a doping rules dispute that lasted 16 years and went before the German Constitutional Court.
“The Parties have mutually agreed to settle their litigation in a spirit of conciliation, allowing them to focus on the sport’s future development,” a statement said on Tuesday.
Pechstein, 53, Germany’s most successful winter Olympian with nine medals including five gold and still active, was banned for two years in 2009 for blood doping due to suspicious blood values in her biological passport.
She never failed a doping test and said tests showed that the elevated levels of reticulocytes, were the result of a blood anaemia called spherocytosis which she inherited from her father.
She went to civil courts after the Court of Arbitration in 2011 confirmed the ISU ban, and a Munich regional court suggested a settlement in October after the case was returned to it after nine years via a 2022 ruling by Germany’s Constitutional Court.
Pechstein was suing the ISU for compensation and damages of €8.4 million ($9 million). She said the ban imposed for blood doping over suspicious blood levels in her biological passport was unjust.
The ISU said on Tuesday that Pechstein and her father underwent tests at a Swiss hospital where it was determined that “Ms Pechstein has a mild form of dehydrated hereditary stomatocytosis (DHS)”.
Pechstein and her lawyers said in October she would agree on a settlement for around half the sum if, according to her, “the ISU admits it was wrong to ban me.”
Tuesday’s statement did not include such a admission but it did say: “The ISU recognizes the sporting achievements of Ms Pechstein and welcomes her future contribution to the development of athletes and the sport of speed skating.
“Neither party will make any further comment concerning the settlement.”
