The five-time Olympic speed skating champion Claudia Pechstein's dreams of a sixth Winter Games have been dashed, with the German's appeal to skate in Vancouver thrown out.
Pechstein's last-minute bid to have a doping ban overturned was rejected by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which says it doesn't have the jurisdiction to re-hear her case.
Despite never failing a drugs test, the 37-year-old was banned by the International Skating Union in July 2009 backdated to February last year because her blood showed abnormal values in a series of tests.
Her ban will run until February 2011.
Pechstein says the test results were due to testing mistakes and sample mix-ups.
She's Germany's most successful Winter Olympian with five gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
