Editorial | JAAA’s moral obligation

By credible accounts, Nayoka Clunis is somewhere in the United States, perhaps practising, if she can stomach it, to participate in the hammer throw at some future athletic event.

Rightfully, but for a monumental cock-up by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), Ms Clunis should be in Paris, ready to throw the hammer at the Olympics. The preliminary rounds of that discipline start on August 2.

In the circumstances, the JAAA owed Ms Clunis a moral obligation, if she accepted, to ensure her presence in Paris – if not as a participant, as an honoured guest – with the possibility to grasp the opportunity to participate, should it arise.

In other words, the JAAA, while doing all in its power to assuage her hurt, should have, insofar as possible, put itself in a position to make use of an idea floated by World Athletics, of re-inserting Ms Clunis into the Games should another female hammer thrower fall out. Clearly, there is no chance of clinging to an 11th-hour chance from far-off USA or Jamaica.

Nayoka Clunis is Jamaica’s top female hammer thrower – and for that matter, its top hammer thrower. Currently, she is ranked 35th by World Athletics, track and field’s global governing body.

But at the end of the qualification period, on June 30, for this year’s Olympics, which is what counts, she was ranked 23rd. Ms Clunis, therefore, would have earned an automatic spot among the 32 female hammer throwers at the Games.

There was, however, one small proviso. The JAAA was required to register Jamaica’s participants for the Olympics by midnight July 4, Monaco time.

On July 3, the JAAA told Ms Clunis that based on the world ranking, she had been selected for Jamaica’s team.

The JAAA met the deadline of July 4 for submission of its pre-entry list. Ms Clunis’ name was not on it. In effect, Jamaica had no entry for the hammer throw.

The next day, World Athletics, in accordance with the rules (of which all its associated federations were aware and had been reminded), allocated what would have been Ms Clunis’ place to the thrower next in rank, Iryna Klymets of Ukraine.

The JAAA spent the next two days attempting to undo its mistake with World Athletics. Domestically, it named Ms Clunis among the athletes going to Paris.

HURRIEDLY UPLOADED

In the meantime, it was suggesting to World Athletics that the list had been hurriedly uploaded as Jamaica prepared for Hurricane Beryl and that it had problems fixing the inadvertence because of disruptions caused by the hurricane, including the loss of electricity and Internet service.

On July 7, World Athletics published its final list of athletes for the Games. Ms Clunis’ name was absent. The JAAA continued its efforts to persuade World Athletics to let her in.

The next day – according to information in the chronology of events in the ruling by the Ad Hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), to which Ms Clunis eventually, and unsuccessfully, appealed – World Athletics Director of the Competition and Events, Marton Gyulai, essentially told the JAAA, that the forfeiting of Ms Clunis’ spot was a done deal. It could not be undone under the rules. Ms Klymets could not now be disenfranchised.

However, according to the CAS Ad Hoc tribunal, the director told the JAAA that having discussed the matter with the president of World Athletics, Sebastian Coe, the best he could offer was that Ms Clunis could be included “if there were to be an entry cancellation or withdrawal in her event, in accordance with the IOC’s Late Athlete Replacement Policy”.

Obviously, the timelines would have been tight to make use of that option. Nonetheless, even as she pursued her case at the CAS, the JAAA should have made certain that Ms Clunis was in Paris, in the event that slim chance arose. She should have been there fully at the JAAA’s expense, as the association’s special guest, while its bosses paraded in sackcloth and ashes.

DECLINED JURISDICTION

In the meantime, CAS’ Ad Hoc Division declined jurisdiction in the matter.

The case was taken to the CAS under Article 61 of the Olympic Charter, which covers matters that arise during the Games and up to 10 days before the opening ceremony. The obvious assumption is that, by then all issues of athletes’ eligibility would have been settled, and/or that disputes would be dealt with via another process.

In that regard, the arbitrators held that Ms Clunis’ dispute arose prior to the timeframe for its eligibility for hearing by the Ad Hoc Division for the current Games.

The whole experience must be painful for Ms Clunis, but one from which the JAAA has hopefully learnt important lessons. Among these is that it has charge of a major global athletic brand. And it has a great obligation to protect the interests of Jamaican athletes.

That demands high-quality management and accountability.

Rookie mistakes like what occurred with Ms Clunis are intolerable – even during hurricanes. Further, it seems far-fetched, a storm notwithstanding, that the JAAA could wrangle, from whatever source, a connection to Monaco, and wherever, given what was at stake.

Hopefully, this is the last of the JAAA’s cock-ups. No more Nayoka Clunis-type humbugs or fumbles on natural justice, as was served to Tyquendo Tracey.