CAS reverses FEI decision to annul results

SHOW JUMPING athletes Mathilda Karlsson (Sri Lanka) and Andrea Herck (Romania) have had their FEI ranking points reinstated after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) this week upheld an appeal against the FEI decision to annul a series of results from events at Villeneuve-Loubet in France between December 2019 and January 2020.

As a result, the Longines jumping rankings are to be recalculated and there are also changes to the individual quotas for this year’s Tokyo Olympic Games, meaning that Sri Lanka now has an individual place for Tokyo.

The FEI’s original decision to annul the results was based on findings from an investigation after concerns were raised about the integrity of these events. The investigation found that a total of 12 competitions counting for Olympic and Longines rankings had been added after the ‘Definite Entries’ deadline in contravention of the FEI Rules. The changes to the schedules were submitted to the FEI by the French National Federation and were mistakenly approved by the FEI.

As a result, and in accordance with the FEI General Regulations, the FEI removed the additional competitions, requiring a recalculation of the Olympic and Longines rankings. An appeal against the FEI decision was dismissed by the FEI Tribunal in June 2020, and the two athletes and the Sri Lankan NF then took their appeal to the CAS.

The panel confirmed that Article 112.3 of the FEI General Regulations gives the FEI Secretary General the authority to remove events or competitions even with retroactive effect, however, they ruled that it was not the purpose of Article 112.3 “to allow the FEI to retroactively rectify mistakes which entirely stem from its own sphere”, referencing the “human error” at the FEI that had resulted in approval of the updated schedules.

The panel declared “the rule violation would never have occurred without the FEI’s erroneous authorisation of the updated schedules. The organiser could not have implemented the updates without permission of both the FFE and FEI.” The panel ruled that as the FEI had failed to establish “justified circumstances” for the removal of the competitions, the prerequisites of Article 112.3 were not fulfilled and that the FEI decision as well as the appealed decision of the FEI Tribunal are unlawful and must be reversed. FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez said: “This is a very disappointing result for the FEI, but we respect the decision.”