UCI names Danish Olympic Committee in Rasmussen whereabouts case

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The UCI has asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to name the Danish Olympic Committee (DIF) as a defendant in connection with the Alex Rasmussen case. The DIF's doping tribunal had dismissed the charges against the cyclist.

Rasmussen was charged with three violations of the whereabouts requirements. The DIF doping tribunal dismissed the charges in November, saying that for the third violation, the UCI violated its own rules by taking too long to notify Rasmussen.

The UCI announced in December that it would appeal that decision to the CAS, with a hearing expected sometime this spring.

The DIF did not know why it had been named in the action, noting that it did not issue the decision. The action was taken by the doping tribunal, which is independent of the DIF.

However, “it's not the doping committee which is the defendant, but the DIF as an organisation,” Jesper Frigast of the DIF,told tv2sport.dk. “It seems strange that we are named as a defendant. It could well be that we had chosen to support the athlete anyway but did not want to stand as a direct party to the proceedings. Our body, in this case the doping board has issued an order, but why are we a party to the proceedings?”

UCI spokesman Enrico Carpani called the action “purely procedural.”  He told Cyclingnews, “our appeal was made against Mr. Rasmussen and the National Olympic Committee and Sports Confederation  of Denmark (Dansk Idraetsforbund).”

The UCI must name “the competent body which pronounced the contested decision,” he said, and “Under Danish law, it is the Olympic Committee (and not the national federation) who is competent to sanction its athletes.”

The final decision as to who will be named in the case will be up to the CAS.