Park Tae-hwan v. The Korean Olympic Committee: The Breakdown of Sports Jurisprudence in Korea

Park Tae-hwan, the Korean Olympic gold medal swimmer, was suspended for eighteen months by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) in September 2014. Park completed his suspension in March 2016, but the Korea Olympic Committee (KOC), relying on its Article 5.6, then prohibited him from joining the national team for an additional three years for the same doping violation. The KOC’s penalty exceeded that provided by the World Anti-Doping Code, which governs the Olympics and most international sports federations, and contravened well-established precedent from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The KOC, along with the Korea Swimming Federation, maintained the suspension until decisions by the Seoul Eastern District Court and CAS forced them to retract the penalty. We describe the sports regulations and arbitration decisions governing the Park case, how each side used the law to support their positions, the flaws in the KOC’s legal analysis, and the case’s resolutions by the Korean court and CAS. Finally, because this legal conflict has damaged the KOC’s reputation, created uncertainty over the committee’s doping penalties, and undercut the authority of the World Anti-Doping Code and the CAS in Korea, we recommend institutional changes in Korea’s sports jurisprudence.