KINGSTON, Jamaica — Noted sports lawyer Dr Emir Crowne has questioned the procedural fairness of World Athletics’ decision on Thursday to refuse the transfer of national allegiance of 11 athletes, including four Jamaicans, to Turkey.

Olympic Games medallists Roje Stona, Wayne Pinnock and Rajindra Campbell, as well as World Under-20 triple jump record holder Jaydon Hibbert, were part of a group of athletes who were in the process of transferring national allegiance to the European country.

On Thursday, World Athletics announced that its Nationality Review Panel has “refused the applications of 11 athletes seeking to transfer their allegiance to Turkey” saying, “In its decisions, the panel considered that approval of these applications would impinge upon and compromise the imperatives underlying the World Athletics eligibility rules and transfer of allegiance regulations.”

“The panel found that the applications formed part of a coordinated recruitment strategy led by the Turkey Government acting through a wholly‑owned and financed government club, to attract overseas athletes through lucrative contracts, with the aim of facilitating transfers of allegiance and enabling those athletes to represent Turkey at future international competitions, including the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games,” it added.

In an interview with Observer Online, Crowne, who described the announcement as “a very interesting development”, wondered whether the decision was made after “grouping” all 11 athletes in one unit or whether each case was dealt with on an individual basis.

“It does raise a question as to whether the 11 athletes were unfairly grouped together, as opposed to it being an individualised assessment of, you know, of each as the merits of each transfer,” Crowne added.

He said further that while appealing to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS), the athletes would need to request “reconsideration” but that could mean “they would need to go back to the very panel that denied (them) the transfer and beg, which is, fundamentally what it is, beg that panel to reconsider their decision before (they) take it to an independent, a further independent panel.”

“Seems to me that that in itself is slightly irregular,” Crowne said.

— Paul A Reid