CAS: Can Tobi Amusan succeed where Eid Nasser and Coleman failed?

Tobi Amusan has scored a number of firsts in her very storied career that is still up and running.

She is the first Nigerian to set a world outdoor record and the first to win a world outdoor title; the first to win a Diamond League title and the first
track and field athlete to successfully defend a Commonwealth Games title.

The Nigerian will however be seeking perhaps one of the biggest firsts of her career when she confronts, as it were, the Athletics Integrity Unit, AIU, at
the Court of Arbitration, CAS.

The 26 year old was cleared of three Whereabouts Failures by a Disciplinary Tribunal after she was charged by the AIU for an anti-doping rule violation.

The AIU, not satisfied with the decision, filed an appeal last Friday (15 September, 2023) with the CAS against the Disciplinary Tribunal’s decision that
Amusan did not commit an anti-doping rule violation for Whereabouts Failures.

The Diamond League 100m hurdles champion will need to convince the CAS that the disciplinary tribunal made the right pronouncements in declaring her not
guilty.

AIU’s recourse to CAS in cases in which the Disciplinary Tribuinal has ‘set free a presumed offender’, especially in Whereabouts Failures charge is not new.

Two celebrated cases in the last four years have not gone the way of the ‘offender.’

The first which involved a Nigerian-Bahrainian, Salwa Eid Nasser is very similar to Amusan’s while the second involving 2019 World 100m champion, Christian
Coleman is different as the American was the one that took AIU to CAS, but the result is the same.

In Eid Nasser’s case, the 25 year old was issued a notice of charge by the AIU after three whereabouts failures. The 2019 World 400m champion contested the
charges, arguing the Doping Control Officer (DCO) did not do what was reasonable in the circumstances to locate the athlete on the said dates of the missed
tests.

Coleman shared Eid Nasser’s sentiment but CAS upheld AIU’s arguments and set aside the Disciplinary Tribunal’s decision.

In Amusan’s case, AIU will argue that the Nigerian, once included in the international registered testing pool, will be liable for a missed test in case she
was not available for testing at the specified location during the 60-minute time slot.

AIU will thus be requesting the CAS panel to set aside the appealed decision, and will argue that two of the three missed tests set aside by the Disciplinary
Tribunal be confirmed.

Amusan on the other hand will insist the DCO is the one to prove he/she did what was reasonable in the circumstances to locate her on the said dates of the
missed tests.

Nigerians will certainly follow proceeding at the CAS when it begins with the hope that Amusan will score the biggest first of her career and be available to
challenge for the 100m hurdles gold medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics.