Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper published a front page picture of Claudia Pechstein signing a handwritten document in which the 37-year-old refuted all doping claims. The statements "I never doped! And I will never resort to doping!" were clearly visible together with Saturday's date and Pechstein's signature.

"There is no positive test. I was banned on very shaky circumstantial evidence. I can't help those who don't believe me, but my conscience is clear," Pechstein said in an interview which the tabloid printed under the title "Liar or victim?".

Asked why she had not made any public comments on the case when the sport's ruling body, the ISU, first informed her of the blood sample irregularities in February, Pechstein responded that it was very difficult to get rid of the doping stigma once things were made public. While apologizing for not coming clean with public at the time, Pechstein offered a potential explanation for the irregularities of the blood samples.

"There was an independent expert involved in my case who said it was possible I may have a blood disorder," said Pechstein.

"Close to blackmail"

Pechstein also told Bild am Sonntag that the ISU had exerted strong pressure on her to make a split second decision to pull out of World Championship competitions to avoid public scandal, adding that this experience came close to blackmail.

Pechstein also stepped up her media campaign against the doping ruling by appearing in a well-known German sports show on public broadcaster ZDF on Saturday, where she adamantly refuted all doping claims brought against her.

The ISU handed Pechstein a two-year ban for blood doping on July 3. The ISU said on its website on Friday that it had found Pechstein guilty of "the prohibited method of blood doping" from evidence gathered through the 37-year-old's blood sample.

Pechstein is Germany's most successful Winter Olympian, having won nine medals overall – five of them gold – between 1992 and 2006. She is also a six-time world champion, with another 20 silver and eight bronze world championship medals to her credit.

The ISU said its decision was "based on the evidence of Ms Pechstein's (sample) which included abnormal values and abnormal changes of values in a series of tests (in particular in the tests conducted during the Essent ISU World Allround Championships held in Hamar on February 7-8, 2009)."

The two-year ban, which expires on February 8, 2011, means Pechstein will miss the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and, given her age, may even end her career. The ISU said Pechstein had chosen to appeal against the ban before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

nk/dfm/dpa/AP/SID/BamS
Editor: Kateri Jochum