Summer Olympics 2000 Tiriac feels Raducan wasn't at fault

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Thursday, September 28
Tiriac feels Raducan wasn't at fault
Associated Press

SYDNEY, Australia -- Romanian Olympic Committee president Ion Tiriac said Friday (Thursday night ET) he will resign in the wake of the Andreea Raducan doping case.

Raducan tested positive for a banned stimulant because she took cold medicine before winning the women's gymnastics all-around last week. The International Olympic Committee disqualified her and stripped her gold medal.

Tiriac has been one of the most aggressive leaders in the fight to eliminate drugs from Olympic sports. He invoked a rule calling for a lifetime ban against any Romanian guilty of doping.

It puts him in the awkward situation of having to ban Raducan, even though he feels she did nothing wrong.

"Maybe the person who replaces me will be smarter than me and include some clause (in the doping suspension rules) so we don't have ridiculous situations like this," said Tiriac, who plans to step down next month. "Someone is going to amend this rule in a way that's going to be human enough."

Even the IOC viewed Raducan as an innocent victim in this case, having taken banned medicine prescribed by the team doctor. But the IOC cited its hard-line rules when it stripped Raducan of the gold medal, and an arbitration panel upheld that decision.

Tiriac said the same tough rules he implemented in Romania would make it impossible for him to continue in his job without looking like a hypocrite.

"I made a mistake making this rule total and general," Tiriac said. "We have a rule and I want to keep the integrity of the rule."

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