CAS responds to WADA Tokyo criticism in war of words
The Court of Arbitration for Sport Anti-Doping Division ('CAS ADD') has hit back at a 'lack of knowledge' criticism levelled by WADA to anti-doping arbitrators at the Tokyo Olympics. In a media release response, the CAS ADD said WADA's criticisms were unnecessary, not raised with them directly and mere personal opinions and subjective assessments.
As reported earlier this week, WADA Independent Observers recently released a report on anti-doping measures in the lead-up and during the Olympic Games containing criticism both on expertise and communication issues with the CAS ADD. For example, WADA said, "there was an insufficient level of anti-doping knowledge by some members of the CAS ADD" and that the CAS ADD did not notify WADA of two out of the three hearings that were held.
The CAS ADD said it has written to the WADA President and Director General to express their disappointment with the comments.
The statement says that "CAS ADD noted with disappointment that the issues mentioned in the report were not addressed directly to the CAS ADD while in Tokyo, which would have been easier rather than waiting for the publication of the report six months later."
"With respect to the so-called “lack of knowledge” of the CAS ADD arbitrators, such statement appears to be based on subjective assessment by an employee of the WADA legal department and has at no point been raised with the CAS ADD directly," they said whilst spruiking the experience and anti-doping knowledge of all six arbitrators selected to hear matters in Tokyo and those selected for Beijing.
In relation to the communication issues, CAS ADD said, "in one particular case, which was initiated and settled within three hours, there was no material time to send a formal invitation to WADA to attend a hearing, which was eventually held by telephone and was very short."
However, they said that exception does not equate to a shift in practice to notify WADA of "all-new cases, hearings and final decisions as a matter of principle."
In their parting shot, CAS ADD added, "it is the understanding of the CAS ADD that the mission of the Independent Observers is to check that the anti-doping policies and procedures are correctly applied, but not to express personal opinions on the performance of the arbitrators or on the quality of the CAS ADD decisions."
In turn, they asked WADA that any Independent Observers in the same position at the upcoming Beijing Winter Games have familiarity and experience with CAS procedures and remain fully independent from WADA.
Media Release CAS ADD (27 January 2022)
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