Veerpalu Testifies Before FIS Anti-Doping Committee
In a teleconference from Tallinn on June 5, two-time Olympic gold medalist Andrus Veerpalu and his entourage testified over the athlete's doping charges to the International Ski Federation (FIS).
The trial lasted one hour, during which Veerpalu, two lawyers and two doping experts made their case to the FIS anti-doping committee. "The work environment was businesslike and constructive and the commission listened to us very attentively. There weren't any restrictions; FIS did not interrupt us. There were a few specifying questions," lawyer Aivar Pilv, who is leading Veerpalu's defense team, told ETV.
FIS representatives said the organization would come to a decision over the skier's positive doping test by the end of the summer. "They have to review all of the very very detailed and significant documentation that has been sent and when they are ready they will make a decision so it's not possible at all to guess how long this will take," FIS Secretary General Sarah Lewis told ETV.
Pilv said Veerpalu's case continues to focus on the deficiencies and uncertainties of the methology used to test athletes for human growth hormone. "The winning chance is difficult to predict in these kinds of battles. But we can be content that all of the arguments of defense for Veerpalu have been thoroughly weighed," said Pilv.
A doping test had found Veerpalu to have a higher-than-permitted level of growth hormone just before the skier had suspiciously brought his career to an abrupt end on the eve of the Holmenkollen world championship in February.
"I gave my explanations and [answered] some additional questions from them and that was it," Veerpalu said. "Of course it's sad that that this kind of thing has happened, but we hope that we have been able to prove that I haven't consumed anything of the kind."
Ott Tammik