CAS Decision in 49er Gold Medal

Today around 4pm (Beijing time) the ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) published it's decision in the procedure CONI & COE v/ ISAF.

The case was brought by the National Olympic Committees of Spain and Italy against the International Jury for awarding no penalty to the DEN 49er sailing in the Medal Race in the Olympic in the Croatian skiff. You can read my previous post to learn more: Court of Arbitration for Sport will hear 49er Protests.

Let me not keep you in long suspence:
THE CASE HAS BEEN DISMISSED!
Jonas Warrer and Martin Ibsen of Denmark will keep their Gold Medal.

As I suspected yesterday the likelihood of winning for ESP & ITA was very low. The CAS looks at the procedure and format, not at the conclusion of the Jury. As long as all rules for procedure have been followed and the decision is within the scope and jurisdiction of the panel, the CAS will not change the outcome. We will have to wait a little longer for the grounds of the CAS. I will keep a lookout and post about that, when it comes available.

If you are interested in the work the Court of Arbitration for Sports, have a look at their web site: http://www.tas-cas.org/news

 

The following Press release was posted:

PRESS RELEASE (12)
SAILING - SKIFF DINGHY 49ER
THE APPLICATIONS FILED BY THE NOCS OF ITALY AND SPAIN DISMISSED BY THE COURT OF ARBITRATION FOR SPORT (CAS)

Beijing, 23 August 2008 – The ad hoc Division of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has today dismissed the applications filed by the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and the Spanish Olympic Committee (COE) against two decisions of the International Jury of the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) related to the gold medal race of the 49er event which took place on 17 August 2008.
A panel of CAS arbitrators composed of Dr Stephan Netzle, (Switzerland), President, Prof. Richard McLaren (Canada) and Ms Margarita Echeverria (Costa Rica) heard the parties today between 9.00am and 2.00pm as well as the representatives of the Danish NOC, as interested party. After having deliberated, the CAS arbitrators announced that both applications were dismissed and that the decisions rendered by the ISAF International Jury concerning that event and dated 18 and 19 August 2008 were confirmed. The CAS decision with the grounds will be published on the CAS website before the closing of the Olympic Games.

This procedure followed an incident which occurred before the gold medal race in the 49er class event on 17 August 2008. Shortly before the start of the race, the Danish team (Warrer/Ibsen) was sailing towards the start line when the mast of their boat broke. As a consequence, the Danish team decided to use the boat of another team (Croatia) which had not qualified for the gold medal race. The Danish team finished 7th in the gold medal race and was ranked first in the overall ranking of this event. The Spanish team, which obtained the silver medal and the Italian team, which was ranked fourth, as well as the Race Committee, filed various protests which were all rejected by the ISAF International Jury. The two NOCs then requested the CAS to annul the ISAF International Jury decisions, to declare that the Danish team was not entitled to take part in the gold medal race, to disqualify the Danish team and to re-allocate the Olympic medals to the Spanish team (gold medal), to the German team (silver medal) and to the Italian team (bronze medal).