CAS 2019_A_6637 Njisane Phillip vs Panam Sports Organisation (PASO)

On 15 November 2019 the Disciplinary Commission of the Panam Sports Organisation (PASO) concluded that the cyclist Njisane Phillip from Trinidad and Tobago had committed an anti-doping rule violation after his A and B samples tested positive for the prohibited substance Cannabis in a concentation above the WADA threshold (193ng/mL).

Consequently the PASO Disciplinary Commission decided to disqualify the results and medals of the Athlete and his team of Trinidad & Tobago during the Lima 2019 Pan American Games. 

Hereafter in November 2019 the Athlete appealed the PASO decision with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The Athlete requested the Panel to set aside the PASO decision of 15 November 2019 and to order that the gold and silver medals won by the Athlete to remain with him. 

The Athlete argued that PASO’s breach of applicable procedural rules and regulations regarding the following aspects of its results management, disciplinary process and public reporting regarding his violation are so egregious that the Panel should invalidate the Disciplinary Commission Decision in its entirety and restore his cycling competition results in the 2019 Panam Games and medals won:

  1. composition of its Doping Review Panel;
  2. structure and contents of the Disciplinary Commission Decision; and
  3. breach of confidentiality by public reporting of its decision to disqualify the Athlete’s competition results before final resolution of this appeal procedure.

The Athlete admitted the violation and did not dispute that it automatically leads to disqualification of the obtained results. He asserted that there is no evidence that he had used Cannabis to enhance his performance or that it positively impacted his performance. Fairness requires that a lesser penalty would be imposed without consequences for the other athletes in the cycling team of Trinidad & Tobago. 

The Panel finds that no material procedural defects occurred in connection with the structure or contents of the Disciplinary Commission Decision nor the composition of the Doping Review Panel. It recognizes that any procedural defects in either internal process alleged by the Athlete regarding his anti-doping rule violation will be effectively remedied by its de novo review in accordance with Article R57 of the CAS Code. 

The Panel deem that PASO indeed violated the confidentiality requirements as stipulated in the PASO ADR and the ISPPI by public dislosing the Athlete's anti-doping rule violation and disqualification of results after his appeal was filed with CAS in November 2019 en pending before the Panel.

While the PASO’s actions in prematurely reporting the Athlete’s disqualification for his admitted anti-doping rule violation were erroneous, they cannot be remedied by invalidating the entire anti-doping rule violation. 

The Panel concludes that under the applicable Rules the PASO Disciplinary Commission appropriately disqualified the Athlete’s individual results and the Trinidad & Tobago cycling team’s results in the 1 August 2019 team sprint cycling competition as result of the committed anti-doping rule violation. 

Therefore the Court of Arbitration for Sport decides on 8 July 2020 that: 

1.) The appeal filed by Mr. Njisane Phillip on 28 November 2019 against the decision rendered by the Panam Sports Disciplinary Commission on 15 November 2019 is dismissed.

2.) The Award is pronounced without costs, except for the Court Office fee of CHF 1000 (one thousand Swiss Francs) paid by the Appellant, which is retained by the CAS.

3.) (…).

4.) All other motions or prayers for relief are dismissed.

Original document

Parameters

Legal Source
CAS Appeal Awards
Date
8 July 2020
Arbitrator
Mitten, Matthew J.
Soublière, Janie
Spreitzer-Kropiunik, Martina
Original Source
Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS)
Country
Trinidad and Tobago
Language
English
ADRV
Adverse Analytical Finding / presence
Legal Terms
Admission
Case law / jurisprudence
Confidentiality
Consequences to athletes / teams
De novo hearing
International Standard for the Protection of Privacy and Personal Information (ISPPPI)
Lex mitior
No intention to enhance performance
Principle of fairness
Principle of proportionality
Procedural error
Rules & regulations International Sports Federations
Sport/IFs
Cycling (UCI) - International Cycling Union
Other organisations
Organización Deportiva Panamericana (ODEPA) - Pan American Sports Organization (PASO)
Laboratories
Montreal, Canada: Laboratoire de controle du dopage INRS-Institut Armand-Frappier
Analytical aspects
B sample analysis
Doping classes
S8. Cannabinoids
Substances
Cannabis (THC)
Various
Disqualified competition results
Out-of-competition use / Substances of Abuse
Publicity / public disclosure
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Pdf file
Date generated
30 September 2020
Date of last modification
14 October 2020
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  • Doping classes
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