Almost out of time

IT IS the eleventh hour for Jamaican hammer thrower Nayoka Clunis as her GoFundMe campaign, aimed at putting together the money needed to take her case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), is not gathering the steam she would have hoped with just two days left until the start of the Paris Olympic Games.

As of yesterday, Clunis had raised US$3,250 of her US$15,000 target.

Clunis faces the daunting reality of missing out on her Olympic debut despite finishing among the top 32 athletes in her event, which should have been good enough to get her a place at the Olympic Games.

This comes after an administrative error by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA). The JAAA left Clunis’ name off a list to World Athletics and the athlete’s space in the 32 at the Games was filled.

“Due to an omission made by the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association, my name was not submitted to World Athletics. As such, I do not have a position in the Olympic Games,” she posted on her social media on July 10. “I have been assured that all possible remedies are being explored and that there is hope that this issue may soon be resolved.”

Clunis took her case to the CAS Ad Hoc division with the hopes of having her place reinstated ahead of the Olympics.

She was represented by counsel Dr Emir Crowne and Sayeed Bernard, who argued the situation warranted an intervention from CAS to ensure she was not excluded from the Paris Games.

However, on Monday, CAS Ad Hoc division ruled her case “could not be reviewed on the merits” because it was filed “outside of the jurisdiction of the ad hoc division.”

In response to the ruling, Clunis indicated she would bring her dispute to CAS in order to pursue what she stated was her “rightful inclusion”.

However, funding the appeal was beyond her and she started a GoFundMe campaign to bridge the gap.

“I need to file a case to regular because CAS Ad Hoc doesn’t have jurisdiction, CAS does. This can easily be remedied if I had money but I’m broke, so here I am asking for help pro bono to get this sorted,” she posted on X (formerly Twitter)

“If anyone on here wants to pay for my legal fees to file a motion to regular CAS to get this sorted, I’d appreciate you as I have no funding to push this forward,” she continued in another post.

Following the ruling, the JAAA stated they were “deeply saddened” with the decision taken by the CAS and would be seeking avenues under which Clunis could be allowed to compete.

“Again, we are deeply saddened that this situation continues and are making every effort in the hope that World Athletics and the IOC will find a way to enable Ms Clunis to compete in the Olympics,” a press release from JAAA read.

Clunis’ Olympic aspirations now hang by a thread, with either a last-minute CAS ruling or a vacancy in the event being her only hope of competing in Paris.