Last month the disciplinary committee of the Swiss Olympic Committee made the decision to drop the case against former professional cyclist Jan Ullrich. The action was taken against the cyclist for his alleged involvement in the Operación Puerto doping scandal which came to light in 2006. An International Cycling Union (UCI) spokesman has confirmed to the German sports agency SID that they have appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the Swiss Olympic Committee’s decision last month to halt the investigation. He now faces the possibility of further legal action.
Ullrich, although he is German, maintained his primary residence in Switzerland, and rode under a Swiss racing license towards the end of his career. His move to the country gave the Swiss Cycling Federation and Olympic Committee jurisdiction in the case. However, since his license had not been in effect since 2006, the committee believed that they no longer had the authority to make a ruling in the case.
The UCI stated that they were not satisfied with the Swiss Olympic committee’s decision to stop the investigation, and are insisting that a decision be made as to whether Ullrich is guilty or not.
In February the International Olympic Committee appeared to have decided that the German will keep his gold medal in the road race from the Sydney Games.
“The whole issue has stalled,” said IOC disciplinary chairman Denis Oswald to Het Laatste Nieuws at the time. “We are reluctant to abandon it, but there is simply not a shred of evidence that Ullrich used doping at the Olympics in 2000.”
In 2008 Ullrich put and end to the doping case against him in Germany by paying 250,000 euros.
Ullrich continues to maintain his innocence in the matter.