By David Kirton
YANQING, China (Reuters) – Sport’s highest global court has dismissed an appeal from Jamaica’s Jazmine Fenlator-Victorian asking to be included in the Beijing Olympics’ two-woman bobsleigh competition, after she alleged Jamaica had been unfairly excluded.
Jamaica missed qualifying for the last spot at the Games for the two-woman event in a tiebreaker with France.
In her appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), Fenlator-Victorian had alleged that the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) broke its own rules in calculating points that determine Olympic spots in the sport.
Fenlator-Victorian accused the body of duplicating the results from a race in the German resort town Winterberg on Dec. 5 by publishing the same results for a “fictitious race” in Winterberg a day earlier, a statement from her shows.
This meant that competitors in the duplicated race earned extra points, putting a French doubles team ahead of Fenlator-Victorian and her teammate, brake person Audra Segree, and claiming the last spot at Beijing, the statement adds.
“I am appealing to protect my rights and the rights of my country to participate fully in the Olympic Games,” she said in a statement on Friday. “I will not stand silent while my nation and my team are treated unfairly.”
But on Monday the CAS announced it had dismissed the application, saying the full reasons would follow.
“I believe we were given a fair hearing,” said Nelson Christian Stokes, the chairman of the Jamaica Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.
“I am not clear on the legal basis for the dismissal but believe the process above all was important. The voice of the athlete must always be heard and treated seriously.”
Jamaica has other bobsledding teams at the Beijing Games, for the four-man and two-man events.
American born Fenlator-Victorian, who has previously represented the United States, is herself competing in the monobob – a woman-only sport that is making its Olympic debut.
(Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
