In a crucial development leading up to the 2024 Paris Olympics, the Court of Arbitration for Sport's (CAS) Ad hoc Division is expected to rule on the dispute between hammer thrower Nayoka Clunis and the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association, by Sunday, July 21.
Clunis, who earned her spot with a national record throw of 71.83m in May, was initially selected by the JAAA to represent Jamaica in the hammer throw. However, her name was not submitted to World Athletics by the JAAA, leaving her Olympic status in jeopardy. In response, Clunis has sought a ruling from the CAS Ad hoc Division to ensure her inclusion in the hammer throw competition at the Paris Olympics.
The panel of arbitrators, comprising Honourable Annabelle Bennett QC, SC of Australia as President, along with Ms. Carline Dupeyron of France and Olympian Ms. Kristen Thorness of the USA, will hear the case on July 20, 2024. The panel's decision is expected to be announced the following day.
The urgency of Clunis' appeal stems from a lack of response from the JAAA. On Tuesday, Clunis instructed her lawyers to contact CAS if no response was received from the JAAA by 5 p.m. that day. Despite the CAS setting an 11 a.m. Friday deadline for the JAAA to file materials, they reportedly failed to meet this requirement.
Sportsmax.TV sources did indicate that the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA), World Athletics (WA) and the IOC have all filed submissions in the dispute.
Clunis' bid for inclusion in the Olympic roster has been fueled by frustration over the JAAA's handling of her case. Her throw, placing her among the top 32 hammer throwers globally this year, underscores her qualification and readiness to compete at the highest level.
A favorable ruling would rectify the administrative oversight and allow Clunis to showcase her talent on the Olympic stage, fulfilling her dream of competing in Paris.
Clunis is represented by attorneys Dr Emir Crowne and Sayeed Bernard.
In October 2020, the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) disciplinary tribunal ruled that Naser had not committed an anti-doping rule violation in relation to an alleged filing failure and three missed tests between March 12 and April 12, 2019.
WADA and World Athletics subsequently filed appeals requesting that the tribunal’s decision be set aside and that it be replaced with a new decision in which the 2019 400m world champion is found to have committed an ADRV and sanctioned with a two-year period of ineligibility.
The parties were awaiting dates when CAS would hear the matter. Dr Emir Crowne, who along with Matthew Gayle and Kristie Irving of New City Chambers, confirmed to Sportsmax.TV those dates have now been set for the hearing that will be held virtually.
"While my preference would be for an open hearing, certain sensitive information about Ms Naser will be revealed and we have decided to not press for an open hearing. As the proceedings are closed, that's all I can reveal,” Dr Crowne said while confirming said dates.
Salwa Eid Naser, 22, won the world title in Doha in 48.14, the third-fastest time in history defeating heavy favourite Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas, who clocked a personal best 48.37 to claim the silver medal.
Jamaica’s Shericka Jackson was third in a personal best 49.47s
It subsequently came to light that Naser was competing in Doha, having missed three doping tests earlier that year and was not provisionally suspended. She also missed another test in January 2020.
If CAS overturns the initial ruling, the Bahrani athlete would miss this summer’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
The news comes on the heels of reports that the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) had issued a statement in support of Bahamian Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who questioned why World Athletics didn’t sanction to Bahrani athlete who defeated her in the final of the 2019 World Championships 400m final in Doha.
Naser won in a world-leading 48.14, the third fastest time in history. However, she had missed three tests on March 12 and 16 and April 12 that year but was not suspended. One of those missed tests was being investigated while Naser was competing in Doha.
Naser was provisionally suspended on June 5, 2020 but was cleared by an Independent Tribunal in October after it was revealed during the hearing that the doping control officer turned up at the wrong address to test Naser.
However, the AIU announced on Twitter today that they would be challenging the decision.
The ban takes effect today.
However, her results from the 2019 World Championships in Doha will remain.
“Ms Salwa Eid Naser is sanctioned with a period of ineligibility of two years, commencing on the date of notification of this award, with credit given for the period of provisional suspension already served between 4 June 2020 and 14 October 2020,” CAS said.
“All competitive results obtained by Ms Salwa Eid Naser from November 25, 2019, through to the date of notification of this award shall be disqualified, with all of the resulting consequences, including forfeiture of any medals, titles, ranking points and prize and appearance money.”
She will also have to pay 5000 Swiss francs to World Athletics and to the World Anti-Doping Agency as a contribution towards their costs connection with these arbitration proceedings.”
In the wake of the ruling, the attorneys representing the athlete Dr Emir Crowne, Mr Matthew Gayle and Ms Kristie Irving have expressed concern about a part of the CAS ruling which can have serious implications for athletes. "A majority of the panel says it is okay for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) to re-characterize charges in the middle of an appeal. So, the majority of the panel said WADA can re-characterize a missed test as a filing failure if they want to. With all due respect to the majority of the panel, that can't be right. That cannot be a fair principle in any court system," Dr Crowne told Sportsmax.TV this morning.
The Nigerian-born 400m runner was charged with four alleged whereabouts failures by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) in June 2020. These included filing failures on March 16, 2019, and three missed tests on March 12 and April 12 as well as January 24, 2020.
However, the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal ruled the alleged violation in April 2019 should not stand which meant Naser had not missed three tests.
Naser won the world title in a time of 48.14, the third-fastest time in history defeating Shanuae-Miller Uibo who ran a lifetime best of 48.37 and Shericka Jackson who also clocked a personal best of 49.47 for third.
Dr. Emir Crowne and Sayeed Bernard represented Clunis, while Ben Cisneros appeared for the JAAA, Ian Wilkinson (KC) for the Jamaica Olympic Association, Catherine Pitre for World Athletics, and Antonio Rigozzi for the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Clunis, who secured her spot for the Paris Olympics with a national record throw of 71.93m in May, was initially selected by the JAAA to represent Jamaica in the hammer throw. However, an administrative oversight led to her name not being submitted to World Athletics, jeopardizing her Olympic participation. In response, Clunis sought a ruling from the CAS Ad hoc Division to ensure her inclusion in the hammer throw competition.
The panel of arbitrators, led by Honourable Annabelle Bennett QC, SC of Australia as President, along with Ms. Carline Dupeyron of France and Ms. Kristen Thorness Oly of the USA, initially aimed to announce their decision on Sunday, July 21. However, the complexity of the case necessitated an extension to Monday.
Clunis' appeal highlights the urgency of the situation, particularly given the lack of timely communication from the JAAA. After receiving no response from the JAAA by a specified deadline, Clunis instructed her legal team to escalate the matter to CAS. The JAAA was subsequently given until 11 a.m. on Friday, July 19, to file materials, a deadline they reportedly did not meet.
Taplin, 28, who was seventh in the 400m final in Rio, four years ago, was sanctioned by the Caribbean Regional Anti-Doping Organization in November 2019 for avoiding a drugs test.
The sanction stemmed from an incident at the Grenada Invitational on April 13, 2019, when Taplin won the 400m at the Grenada Invitational.
Following the race, Taplin left the stadium without completing doping control even doping control officers had informed him that he was to undergo a drug test. Reports said he left the island early the following day.
According to a summary released by the CAS, Taplin was notified on August 20, 2019, that he was being charged with intentionally evading sample collection on at the 2019 Grenada Invitational.
Following an investigation, the Caribbean RADO Panel issued its decision on November 8, 2019, in which it found, “to its comfortable satisfaction”, that Taplin sought to evade the chaperone and doping control officers and that he was guilty of the offence of evading sample collection.
He was banned for four years.
However, in his appeal to the CAS, Taplin requested that the decision be set aside and that he be declared immediately eligible to compete on the grounds that he had not been properly notified that he had been selected for the doping control test.
The CAS arbitration was conducted by Canadian The Honourable Hugh L. Fraser, who held the hearing at the offices of the Grenada Olympic Committee on February 27 and 28, 2020.
The sole arbitrator found that Taplin’s evidence that he was never approached, followed, or accompanied by anyone from the Grenada NADO to be implausible.
The arbitrator stated that he was comfortably satisfied that Taplin was guilty of the offence of evading sample collection and confirmed the four-year period of ineligibility, which commenced on September 25, 2019, the date on which the provisional suspension began.
In China, Frater, who was sixth in the men's 100m final in 9.97s, was in imperious form in the 4x100 relay final, scorching the backstretch before handing the baton to Usain Bolt who dominated the curve before passing the baton to Asafa Powell, who stormed down the homestretch to bring Jamaica home in a world-record 37.10.
It was Frater’s first Olympic gold medal and Bolt’s third, the latter having won the 100m and 200m finals in world record time just days earlier.
Four years later, Frater was once again on Jamaica’s team at the 2012 London Games that lowered the world record to 36.84s and for a while, it seemed as if he and his teammates would go into retirement with at least two Olympics gold medals.
However, in 2016 news emerged that lead-off runner Nesta Carter’s urine sample from 2008 had turned up the presence of the stimulant methylhexanamine.
“Everybody was shocked. It was a surreal moment for me. I couldn’t actually believe what was going on. I just thought that something would have come out to show that it was a mistake or something like that,” Frater said during an interview on SportsNation Live on Nationwide Radio on Saturday.”
Carter contested the charge before the Court of Arbitration for Sport but in 2018, CAS upheld the charge and Jamaica was subsequently stripped of their gold medal. The news was devastating to Frater, who is still in a state of disbelief.
“To this day, I am always thinking that they will go back and find there was something wrong or something like that because it was that first moment, that first Olympic gold, that special moment in my life,” he said.
“I will always think that we won that gold medal, nobody can tell me otherwise. I don’t know exactly what happened but it was a shock. It will hurt me for the rest of my life.”
On July 4, 2024, Clunis's name was omitted from the list sent to World Athletics (WA). By July 7, she was informed by the JAAA that her name was missing from the list, and on July 8, WA confirmed that her name could not be added. Despite Clunis's contention that the dispute only crystallized when she received detailed submissions from WA on July 19, the CAS determined that the dispute had arisen earlier.
The CAS proceedings began on July 18, 2024, with a videoconference hearing on July 20. The parties involved included Clunis and her counsel Dr Emir Crowne and Sayeed Bernard, representatives from the JAAA, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), WA, and the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA). The panel, consisting of President Dr. Annabelle Bennett and arbitrators Ms. Carine Dupeyron and Ms. Kristen Thorsness OLY, found that the timeline of events placed the dispute outside their jurisdiction.
Clunis's submission stated that due to an administrative error and the impact of Hurricane Beryl, her name was not submitted to WA for the Paris Olympic Games. She argued that this exceptional situation warranted the CAS Ad Hoc Division's intervention to prevent an unjust outcome. However, the IOC and WA contested the jurisdiction, pointing out that the dispute arose before the 10-day window preceding the Opening Ceremony.
The CAS panel reviewed the chronology of events, noting key dates such as World Athletics (WA’s) confirmation of qualified athletes on July 5 and the JAAA’s attempts to rectify the error from July 6 onwards. The dispute, according to the CAS, did not arise when Clunis received the detailed correspondence but rather when she was first informed of the omission.
Ultimately, the CAS concluded that it had no jurisdiction as the dispute arose before the 10-day period leading up to the Olympics. The panel acknowledged the unfairness to Clunis, who was deprived of the opportunity to compete due to circumstances beyond her control. Despite recognizing the hardship, the CAS emphasized that jurisdiction could not be assumed where it does not exist under the rules.
Mike Morgan and Ben Cisneros appeared for the JAAA; Antonio Rigozzi and Eolos Rigopoulos for the IOC, Ian Wilkson for the JOA and Catherine Pitre (Counsel) and expert witnesses Carlo de Angeli and Marton Gyulai for World Athletics.
The High Court granted permission a day after said lawyers notified the Court of Arbitration for Sport that they were withdrawing their appeal against FIFA’s decision to appoint a normalization committee to govern the affairs of the TTFA, citing concerns of institutional bias in favour of the world-governing body.
Since FIFA is not a situated in Trinidad and Tobago, the lawyers had to seek permission to serve documents on football’s world governing body by email or courier service pursuant to Part 7.2(b) of the Civil Proceedings Rules.
The lawyers have filed a claim before the High Court seeking a permanent injunction to prevent FIFA from interfering or seeking to override the “fair and transparent democratic processes of the TTFA and/or preventing them from removing the executive of duly elected officers from office.”
They are also seeking a permanent injunction against FIFA preventing FIFA and/or its agents from interfering with the day-to-day management of the association, including its bank accounts, website and real property.
They are also seeking damages and costs.
Acting on instructions, the lawyers from the firm New City Chambers notified CAS on Monday that they were withdrawing because of what they said was institutional bias in favour of FIFA leaving them to believe they would not be able to get a fair hearing.
Wallace described the ongoing dispute with FIFA as a battle against injustice in a video that was circulated on Monday.
In the video that is just over five minutes long, Wallace said since 2005, FIFA has appointed normalisation committees to run the affairs of 33 associations. The TTFA is the only one that was normalized and their officers were not culpable for the reasons given by FIFA.
He explained that when the previous administration went into office in 2015, the TTFA had accrued debts of TT$15 million. By the time they were defeated in the elections held in November 2019, the debt had ballooned to TT$50 million.
“But more than the debt, the main reason that there was a lack of financial structures in the organisation is passing strange in that FIFA, in every single year would do an audit of the TTFA and the audit did not reveal the lack of internal fiscal policy and systems in the organisation,” Wallace said.
“And, it is only when we pointed it out to them that they actually used that same thing to make a decision to remove us from office.”
