The South Korean doctor who administered an injection that caused swim star Park Tae-Hwan to fail a drugs test has become the scapegoat in the affair, her lawyer argued in court on Tuesday.
The doctor, identified only by her surname Kim, is standing trial on charges of professional negligence, violating the medical code and causing bodily harm.
She pleaded not guilty to all three charges Tuesday as the case opened.
Park, who won 400m freestyle gold and 200m freestyle silver at the Beijing 2008 Olympics, tested positive for a banned anabolic steroid at an out-of-competition control before the Asian Games last year.
Park blamed the injection — administered last July — for the positive test of urine samples he provided in September.
Last month he was banned for 18 months by world swimming body FINA.
Kim had been “victimised as a scapegoat” ahead of the FINA hearing, the Yonhap news agency quoted her lawyer, Moon Jeong-Il, as saying in court.
“Kim has no professional knowledge in sports and had never treated an athlete before,” Moon said, adding that she was an anti-ageing expert.
According to Moon, Park had agreed it was his responsibility to determine if any treatment provided by Kim might cause a doping problem.
The doctor had used the steroid Nebido because Park’s testosterone level was lower than average, he added.
Park, South Korea’s first Olympic swimming medallist, also won two silver medals at the 2012 London Olympics, along with 400m gold in the world championships in 2007 and 2011.
But he has struggled to repeat that form and failed to win a title at his home Asian Games last September despite competing in a pool that bore his name.
Returning to South Korea after his FINA hearing, Park made an emotional public apology, saying it was “all my fault” and begging for forgiveness.
The FINA ban ends in March 2016, which theoretically gives Park time to prepare for the Olympics, but a new rule instituted by the Korean Olympic Committee last year could see him miss the Rio event.
The rule bars any athlete suspended for doping from competing with the national team for three years. In Park’s case, that would bar him until March 2019 — by which time the 25-year-old would be past his best.