Canada’s last hope of fielding a showjumping team at this summer’s Olympics has been quashed in a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
Canada lost its Tokyo team place after rider Nicole Walker tested positive for a metabolite of cocaine at the 2019 Pan American Games. Ms Walker was disqualified at a Panam Sports disciplinary committee hearing in December 2019, meaning the team dropped from fourth to seventh place and with it went their Olympic qualification.
The Argentinian team, which originally finished fifth, were promoted to fourth following the amended result and took the Tokyo spot.
Equestrian Canada supported and endorsed Ms Walker’s appeal to CAS to overturn her disqualification and reinstate her results, which would have put the Canadian team back in fourth and return their ticket to Tokyo.
Panam Sports argued against the appeal at the hearing, held by video conference on 21 and 23 December 2020.
The CAS panel issued its decision on Tuesday (12 January), dismissing the appeals filed by Ms Walker and Equestrian Canada, and partially upheld Panam Sports’ case in ruling that the results for the Canadian team are disqualified. This includes the forfeiture of any medals, points and prizes.
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The arbitral award, with grounds for the panels decisions, will be notified to the parties “in the coming weeks”.
A statement from Equestrian Canada said the organisation was “disappointed” by the CAS rulings.
“[Equestrian Canada] will await the reasoned arbitral award before commenting further at this time,” it added.
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Lucy is an experienced news journalist, reporter and presenter. Since joining the Horse & Hound team in 2015, Lucy has reported from major global sporting events including the Tokyo Paralympic Games and multiple European Championships, as well as Badminton, Burghley and London, to name a few. She has covered current affairs and sports news across the full spectrum of equestrian disciplines and racing, as well as human and equine welfare, industry news and court cases.
