Nat'l Olympic chief hopes to see banned swimmer in Rio

The head of the national Olympic body said Tuesday he hopes to see banned swimmer Park Tae-hwan race at this year's Summer Games, even as his own organization is barring Park from the competition because of a doping history.

"To give you my personal opinion, I think it'd be great if Park Tae-hwan could go to the Olympics," said Kim Jung-haeng, president of the Korean Olympic Committee, at a luncheon with former South Korean chief delegates to the Olympics.

Kim added that he feels that way because he himself was an athlete. Kim is a former national team judoka.

Kim's comments notwithstanding, the KOC hasn't lifted its ban on Park, the 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the 400m freestyle. The national Olympic committee prevents athletes who've served a doping suspension from representing the country for three years, starting on the day their ban ends.

Park's doping suspension began retroactively in September 2014 and ended in March this year.

Park is scheduled to meet with KOC representatives on May 25 to discuss the issue. He filed for an arbitration at the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the top sports tribunal, on April 26 but asked the procedures be put on hold two days later, saying he hoped to talk things over with the KOC before taking further legal steps.

Kim repeatedly said he was only giving his personal thoughts on Park's plight.

"Clearly, doping is one of the evils in sports that should be eradicated, but more than 70 percent of the people want to see Park Tae-hwan at the Olympics, (according to a recent poll)," Kim added. "When I was an athlete, I was always so excited to compete at the Olympics and other international events that I couldn't sleep at night."

Kim said his comments alone won't lead to a dramatic shift in the KOC's stance, noting that several subcommittees within the KOC must also get involved.

Despite his Rio ban, Park chose to compete at the final Olympic trials last month and won the 100m, 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle races. He also met the Olympic "A" standards set by FINA, the international swimming governing body, in all four, and would have qualified for Rio had it not been for the KOC rule.

His victories put even more pressure on the KOC to alter its stance, but it has maintained that it wouldn't make a special exception for any particular athlete.

Critics of the KOC say the KOC is unfairly punishing Park twice for the same offense, and the principle of double punishment runs counter to international standards.

In 2011, the CAS handed down a decision against the "Osaka Rule," which barred athletes who had served a doping suspension for at least half a year from competing in the following Olympic Games.

The Korea Swimming Federation left Park off its preliminary Olympic team earlier this month. The deadline to submit the final Olympic swimming roster is July 18. (Yonhap)