South Korean Olympic Medalist Rim Jong-un Faces Doping Ban

SEOUL, Aug. 5 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Olympic short track speed skating medalist Rim Jong-un faces a lengthy ban for violating anti-doping rules, officials said Wednesday.

The Korea Skating Union (KSU) and Rim's agency, 700 Creators, said Rim failed to provide information on his whereabouts for the International Testing Agency (ITA) three times over the past 12 months.

The ITA manages anti-doping programs and whereabouts compliance for many international sports federations. According to the ITA, athletes must provide accurate details on their location to facilitate unannounced, out-of-competition testing.

Those who accumulate a combination of three missed tests or filing failures within any 12-month period face a maximum two-year ban from competition.

A 700 Creators official said Rim simply made an innocent mistake with no intention to violate rules.

"He has pleaded his case through an attorney and will consider appealing if a ban is imposed," the official said.

The official said Rim first failed to register his whereabouts information in February this year, before the start of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics.

Then in June, Rim had mistakenly filed the Jincheon National Training Center in Jincheon, some 85 kilometers south of Seoul, as his location and missed a test. Rim did not change his address in July, leading to his third filing failure.

"He did not recognize the importance of the filing process, and he was inexperienced when it comes to registering such information," the agency official said. "Since he had no intent to violate rules, we expect the ITA to accept his explanation."

The KSU said it felt responsible for the situation and added it will help Rim avoid a lengthy suspension.

Rim, 19, won the national team trials last year to make the Olympic team, and picked up silver in the men's 5,000-meter relay and bronze in the men's 1,000m in his Winter Games debut in February.