Amusan cleared of doping charge as CAS dismisses AIU’s appeal

The Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) has dismissed Athletics Integrity Unity’s (AIU) appeal against the clearance of Tobi Amusan’s anti-doping rule violation.

The court announced the decision in a statement published on its website on Friday.

In July 2023, AIU handed Amusan a provisional suspension for allegedly “missing three tests in 12 months”.

The case was transferred to a disciplinary tribunal. A month later, a “majority decision” of the tribunal ruled that the 27-year-old “has not committed an anti-doping rule violation (ADRV) of three whereabouts failures within a 12-month period.”

Amusan was cleared of the charge by the disciplinary tribunal.

Later that year, AIU announced that it had filed an appeal against the tribunal’s decision before CAS.

In its ruling on the case, CAS judged that although Amusan “committed two filing failures,” the appellant “did not confirm the existence” of a third missed test “which would have been the third whereabouts failure committed within a 12-month period”.

The court ruled that the athlete did not violate any Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV) rule and that the “challenged decision should be confirmed.”

“The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeals filed by World Athletics (WA) and by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against the decision issued on 17 August 2023 (the Challenged Decision) by the World Athletics Disciplinary Tribunal (WADT) in relation to the hurdler Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Amusan (Nigeria),” the statement reads.

“In their respective appeal to CAS, WA and WADA had sought the imposition of a two-year period of ineligibility. The CAS Panel held a hearing on 19 January 2024. Having deliberated, the CAS Panel has issued its decision today dismissing both appeals. The CAS Panel unanimously acknowledged that the athlete committed two filing failures but did not confirm the existence of a missed test, alleged by WA and WADA, which would have been the third Whereabouts Failure committed within a 12-month period. Accordingly, the CAS Panel concluded that the athlete did not commit an ADRV and that the Challenged Decision should be confirmed.”

With the latest decision, Amusan is cleared and is expected to represent Nigeria at the Paris Olympics next month.

In March, she won her third consecutive gold medal in the women’s 100 meters hurdles at the African Games.

Two months later, she also claimed her fourth consecutive national women’s 100 meters hurdles title.