KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is expected to make a decision in the case brought against the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) by national women’s hammer throw record holder Nayoka Clunis by Sunday, July 21.

The case is the first to be registered for arbitration procedure linked to the upcoming Paris Olympic Games, a release issued by CAS at 2:44pm (Jamaica time) on Friday said.

According to the release, “Ms Nayoka Clunis (JAM) was qualified and selected by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) to represent Jamaica in the hammer throw competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, but eventually her name was not submitted by the JAAA to World Athletics (WA)”.

“Ms Clunis seeks 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,” the release went on to say.

The panel to decide on this dispute will consist of Dr Annabelle Bennett of Australia, Carine Dupeyron of France, and Kristen Thorsness of the United States. They will hold a hearing with the parties on Saturday.

The case was taken to the Ad hoc committee on Wednesday by attorneys representing Clunis, Sayeed Bernard and Emir Crowne, who had written to the JAAA and the Jamaica Olympic Association seeking an update about the athlete’s Olympic team status by 5:00 pm. The attorneys in the letter had warned that they would then turn to CAS if that deadline was not met.

Clunis qualified for the women’s hammer throw event at the Paris Olympic Games this summer. But she had to appeal to CAS after she was initially named to the JAAA’s athletics team for the Games but then removed after it was found that due to admitted negligence by the JAAA, her name was not submitted to World Athletics (WA), the sport’s governing body.

It is understood that the JAAA failed to update its list of athletes to be sent to World Athletics, with Clunis’ name, because of issues, the body said, it had to gain electricity or internet access after the passage of Hurricane Beryl earlier this month.

CAS’s Ad Hoc Division deals with the arbitration of disputes that arise regarding major sporting events and usually decides within 48 hours.

A source familiar with the matter told the Jamaica Observer that while the Jamaica Olympic Association, WA, and the International Olympic Committee all filed their documents by CAS’s Friday 11 am (Jamaica time) deadline, the JAAA did not.

Clunis was awaiting word from WA regarding whether she would be added to the entry list based on her world ranking (27th) but this would depend on an athlete giving up their spot in the event.

Her legal team said that it had decided to take the matter to CAS, because of no correspondence from the JAAA since July 7.

This will be the second case by a Jamaican athlete to the CAS Ad hoc committee after discus thrower Jason Morgan had sought to be included on the Jamaican team to the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

CAS had however ruled then that the case was inadmissible as there was no evidence that all internal mechanisms had not been exhausted before the case was sent to them.

-Paul A Reid and Rachid Parchment