National hammer throw champion Nayoka Clunis will not compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics after a decision from the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
Clunis, who holds the national record of 71.83 metres, had filed a last-minute appeal to the CAS Ad Hoc Division on Friday after she qualified and was selected by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) to represent Jamaica in the hammer throw competition in Paris, but her name was not submitted by the local governing body to World Athletics.
The respective parties met on Saturday with a ruling expected on Sunday but it was pushed back by a day.
The CAS in a statement released said the case could not be entertained as it was filed outside its jurisdiction.
“The application filed by Ms Nayoka Clunis (JAM), who sought a decision from the CAS ad hoc Division directing that she be included on the appropriate list to participate in the hammer throw competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, could not be entertained as it was filed outside the jurisdiction of the CAS ad hoc Division Paris 2024. As a consequence, the case could not be reviewed on the merits.” the release stated,
“Nayoka Clunis was qualified and selected by the JAAA to represent Jamaica in the hammer throw competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, but her name was not submitted by the JAAA to World Athletics (WA) due to an unfortunate omission. The unused quota was reallocated to another athlete, Iryna Klymets (Ukraine).”
The JAAA responding to the decision said “We note the decision of the ad hoc panel of CAS that they do not have jurisdiction to hear the matter as the dispute arose outside the 10 days window for disputes relating to the Olympic Games.”
“At all times we (JAAA) have been supportive of the athlete’s participation at the Olympic Games and in fact had petitioned World Athletics to include her in the list of participating athletes even if it meant increasing the number of participants to 33.”
It also explained World Athletics did not alter its position of 32 participants but maintained that if any vacancy were to arise it would be allocated to her.
According to the JAAA “CAS also made note that the respondent (JAAA) would have been unable to provide the relief being sought by the applicant (Clunis) and that World Athletics and the IOC would be the ones that could provide that relief.”
“Again, we are deeply saddened that this situation continues and are making every effort in the hope that World Athletics and the IOC will find a way to enable Ms. Clunis to compete in the Olympics.”
