The doping scandal involving swimmer Park Tae-hwan took a new twist on Thursday after an acquaintance of the athlete’s said Park actively sought the services of the dubious clinic he is suing.
Prosecutors on Thursday questioned a broker offering beauty consulting to wealthy clients and entertainers and hooking them up with clinics.
The woman told prosecutors that Park asked her through a mutual acquaintance to “look for a clinic” for as yet obscure reasons and that she set him up in November of 2013 with the clinic that injected him with the banned drug Nebido.
Park has claimed that the clinic offered him free treatments and that he received the injection without knowing it contained a banned substance.
Park’s agency Team GMP in a statement on Monday claimed the swimmer was given the injection in July last year while he was receiving a free chiropractic treatment at the suggestion of the clinic. Team GMP said Park double-checked with the doctor if the injection contained any banned substances. The swimmer is suing the clinic after he failed a doping test.
But if the broker’s testimony is true, it raises the question why Park sought treatments in a clinic specializing in anti-aging and skin care. One staffer at the clinic said, “We did not approach Park Tae-hwan and we don’t need the publicity.”
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