The CAS Ad Hoc Division rejects the applications filed by the National Olympic Committees of Belgium and the Netherlands: 4 x 400m mixed relay final results unchanged

Tokyo, 2 August 2021 – The Ad Hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has issued its decision in the following matters:

CAS OG 20/10 National Olympic Committee of Belgium (NOC Belgium) v. World Athletics (WA) & United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) & National Olympic Committee of the Dominican Republic (NOC Dominican Republic)

CAS OG 20/11 Netherlands Olympic Committee and Netherlands Sports Federation (NOCNSF) v. World Athletics (WA) & United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) & National Olympic Committee of the Dominican Republic (NOC Dominican Republic)

On 30 July 2021, the USA and Dominican Republic teams were disqualified from Heat 1 of the 4 x 400m mixed relay. After the race, the WA Athletics Jury of Appeal issued decisions in which both teams were reinstated and obtained the right to participate in the 4 x 400m mixed relay final.

At 20:22 on 31 July 2021, NOC Belgium filed an application with the CAS Ad hoc Division seeking the annulment of the decisions reinstating the USA and Dominican Republic relay teams to the 4 x 400m mixed relay final and a confirmation of the initial decisions to disqualify those teams.

At 21:00 on 31 July 2021, the 4 x 400m mixed relay final took place. Poland, Dominican Republic and USA won the gold, silver and bronze medals respectively.

At 23:49 on 31 July 2021, the NOCNSF filed an application with the CAS Ad hoc Division seeking the same relief as NOC Belgium.

The applications were consolidated and handled by the same Panel of arbitrators, composed of the Hon. Dr Annabelle Bennett, President, (Australia), Prof. Song Lu (China) and Ms Yasna Stavreva (Bulgaria). None of the parties requested a hearing and the Panel decided the matter on the basis of the written submissions and evidence filed by the parties.

The Panel concluded that the decisions under challenge were field of play decisions and that, in the light of the constant CAS jurisprudence, it would not engage with the merits of those decisions in the absence of any allegation of a fundamental violation such as bad faith, bias or arbitrariness. Further, the final of the 4 x 400m Relay Mixed Athletics had already been run and the medals awarded. Accordingly, the relief sought by the Applicants was moot.

The original article can be found here.