19/09/2024

Monica Feria-Tinta acting for athlete Aziza Sbaity in CAS selection and discrimination dispute

Lebanese sprinter Aziza Sbaity has filed a case before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), in Lausanne, against the Lebanese Athletics Federation (LAF), over its lack of proper selection policy and arbitrariness in its selection process for the Lebanese team to attend the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, held in Paris. Sbaity is represented by Monica Feria-Tinta.

Sbaity has held the Lebanon women’s 100-metre national record since 2018. Dubbed “the fastest Lebanese woman in history”, she made it to the BBC’s list of ‘100 inspiring and influential women from around the world’ in 2023. In 2024, for the first time since 1996, no-one represented Lebanon in athletics at the Olympic Games.

The dispute before the CAS centres on whether selection procedures applied by the LAF, resulting in the non-selection of the claimant for the Olympic Games, were proper and fair.

In accordance with CAS case law, a national federation should pursue a policy of transparency and open information. The LAF was bound to make known to athletes its selection criteria for the 100m discipline for the Olympics, including eligibility issues (providing clarity as to when an athlete is entitled, or not, to be considered for selection). This called for identification of the relevant timelines for the selection policy and when selection decisions would be taken, when (and how) those decisions would be communicated to the athletes, and the period in which an appeal should be made and heard. Sbaity’s position is that the LAF provided none of these, and that this lack of due process both breached elementary standards of fairness and breached the Olympic Charter to her detriment.

Aziza Sbaity stated: “I have always believed in the power of using our voices to speak up against injustices. By taking this step, I hope to show all athletes that we should never remain silent in the face of unfair treatment. We hold the power to create a positive change in the world of sports, and by standing up we pave the way for a fairer and more transparent future for ourselves and the generations to come. I am grateful to my barrister, Monica Feria-Tinta, of Twenty Essex in London, for representing me in this claim, an important step for me to gain justice.”