CAS releases final verdict on Tobi Amusan Anti-doping violation

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has dismissed the appeal by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) against the clearance of Tobi Amusan’s anti-doping rule violation.

The decision was announced by the court in a statement which was published on its official website on Friday, June 28, 2024. The AIU had initially handed Tobi Amusan a provisional suspension for allegedly “missing three tests in 12 months” in July 2023.

Amusan's case was transferred to a disciplinary tribunal in August 2023, where a “majority decision” of the tribunal ruled that Amusan “has not committed an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) of three whereabouts failures within 12 months.”

The statement read thus,

"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). 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 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.”

What does AIU say about Anti-doping Rules?

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.

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. However, she finished sixth in the world championships in Budapest last year.

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