Tiriac quits over Raducaan issue

Former tennis star and now president of the Romanian Olympic Committee Ion Tiriac has decided to resign his post, following the rejection of a Romanian appeal in the Andreea Raducan doping case.

Tiriac confirmed that his resignation would become effective within a month of his returning to Romania -- that amount of time being required to find, install, and hand over to a successor.

Tiriac said that he was quitting because he had, on taking over, introduced the policy of life bans for any Romanian athlete found to test positive. However, in the Andreea Raducan case, he found himself supporting the teenaged gymnastic star "which on the surface seems like double standards."

Tiriac pointed out that in his view, Raducan was genuinely innocent and deserved his support. "But I am the one who introduced the policy that any athlete who tests positive should be banned for life, ad now I cannot morally continue in my position," Tiriac said.

"I hope the person who succeeds me introduces some clause in the doping suspension rules to deal with ridiculous situations like this," Tiriac said, leaving no doubt that the 'ridiculous situation' referred to was that of a teenager being deprived of gold simply because she was given a cold tablet by a doctor.

Related Story: Heartbreak for teen star Raducan

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