The Court of Arbitration for Sport has ruled against the Azerbaijan National Olympic Committee, the Azerbaijan Field Hockey Federation and a number of named Azerbaijani athletes, who brought an action against the International Hockey Federation (FIH) in relation to a doping case involving two Spanish players. A result in their favour would almost certainly have resulted in the Spanish women’s team being sent home from the Olympic Games. Their replacement would have been Azerbaijan, who were runners-up in the Olympic Qualifiers on home turf in Baku back in April.
Whilst the ruling against Azerbaijan is primarily on procedural grounds, some interesting facts have emerged from a case, which have hitherto been veiled in secrecy. Most significantly, we now know that the case against the second (unnamed) Spanish athlete was dismissed by the FIH Disciplinary Commission on the grounds that there was significant doubt that the urine sample tested was hers.
In relation to conduct of the original proceedings before the FIH Disciplinary Commission, the Court was satisfied as to the fairness of the hearing and the conclusions based on the evidence before it. However, where the Azerbaijani application to the Court has fallen down is the competency of the applicants to appeal. The FIH anti-doping policy only allows for the athletes concerned, the FIH, the International Olympic Committee, and the World Anti-Doping Agency to appeal. The national governing bodies and the athletes who made the application to the Court do not come into this category.
