German skater's doping ban upheld

LAUSANNE, Switzerland, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Claudia Pechstein, who has won nine speed skating Olympic medals for Germany, will miss the 2010 Winter Olympics because of a doping ban.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld a two-year suspension levied on Pechstein followed accusations she participated in blood doping during the World Speedskating Championships last February. The ban by the International Skating Union will run through February 2011, meaning Pechstein will be ineligible for the Feb. 12-28 Games in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Pechstein had appealed the ISU action, claiming data collected were unreliable and the blood analysis machine used in the testing wasn't calibrated correctly. The CAS Wednesday rejected those contentions.

Vancouver would have been the sixth Olympics for Pechstein, 37. She won her first Olympic medal in the 1992 Games, taking the bronze in the 5,000 meters. She won gold medals in that event three times (1994, 1998 and 2002), took a silver medal in the 5,000 in 2006 and had a second-place finish in the 3,000 in 1998. In 2002, she won the 3,000 meters and she was part of the German team that won the pursuit in 2006. She was also third in the 3,000 in 1994.