CAS reject appeal against Athletics Ireland’s Olympic selection

CAS Rejects Appeal Against Athletics Ireland 2016 Rio Olympic selection

Athletics Ireland, Friday, July 22nd, noted the decision of the Court of Arbitration (CAS) for Sport to dismiss the appeal lodged by Sergiu Ciobanu regarding its Olympic Games marathon selection process on the grounds of jurisdiction. 

The Arbitrator indicated that, had jurisdiction been established, the case would have been dismissed as he did not consider that there was “any failure on behalf of Athletics Ireland to either follow or apply the relevant selection policy properly construed.”

Commenting on the outcome, a spokesperson for Athletics Ireland said “The Association set out to have a fair and equitable selection policy with the ultimate objective of choosing the athletes which our five-person team of selectors felt would have the greatest chances of success in Rio. 

“For Ireland to have the difficult choice to make in selecting three from seven athletes is a sign of how positively our athletes are performing on the world stage,” the spokesperson said. 

“We now look forward to continuing the team’s preparations for the Olympic Games,” they added.

The spokesperson said that “all those involved in such difficult selection decisions fully appreciate the deep disappointment felt by the athletes who had reached the qualifying standards but who were not selected for this year’s Games.”