…Athlete Can Compete At The Paris Olympics
Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan, the world’s 100m hurdles record holder, is free to compete at the Paris Olympics following the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) clearing her of doping violation at the instance of World Athletics.
CAS in a statement on its website on Friday in a unanimous decision rejected the appeals by World Athletics and WADA and confirms the decision by the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal that Amusan did not commit any anti-doping rule violation.
Amusan, 27, was charged in July 2023 with missing three anti-doping tests in a period of 12 months, but was cleared of the offence by the Disciplinary Tribunal of the sport’s governing body, World Athletics.
However, World Athletics and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against that decision.
CAS said in a statement on Friday stated, “The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeals filed by World Athletics (WA) and by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the decision issued on 17 August 2023 (the Challenged Decision) by the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal (WADT) in relation to the hurdler Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Amusan (Nigeria).
“Accordingly, the Challenged Decision in which the WADT considered that Tobi Amusan did not violate Rule 2.4 of the WA Anti-Doping Rules (WA ADR) and that no period of ineligibility should be imposed on the Athlete is confirmed.”
Amusan was initially charged with committing an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) under Rule 2.4 WA ADR following three alleged whereabouts failures within a 12-month period.
“In their respective appeal to CAS, WA and WADA had sought the imposition of a two-year period of ineligibility. The CAS Panel held a hearing on 19 January 2024. Having deliberated, the CAS Panel has issued its decision today (Friday) dismissing both appeals. The CAS Panel unanimously acknowledged that the Athlete committed two filing failures but did not confirm the existence of a missed test, alleged by WA and WADA, which would have been the third Whereabouts Failure committed within a 12-month period.
“Accordingly, the CAS Panel concluded that the Athlete did not commit an ADRV and that the Challenged Decision should be confirmed.”
Amusan set the world record of 12.12sec in the world championships in Eugene, Oregon, in July 2022 and went on to win the title.
She finished sixth in the world championships in Budapest last year.
World Athletics’ anti-doping rules say any athlete failing to declare their whereabouts for a doping test on three occasions over a 12-month period is ineligible to compete for two years.
Read the full article here
