The Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) has filed an appeal against the Disciplinary Tribunal’s decision to clear Tobi Amusan of anti-doping rule infractions, contrary to reports.
Amusan was widely believed to have been freed to resume her career after the AIU’s 30-day appeal process to challenge World Athletics’ removal of her temporary ban expired on Saturday.
“The AIU filed an appeal last Friday (15 September 2023) with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) against the Disciplinary Tribunal’s decision, dated 17 August 2023, that Tobi Amusan did not commit an anti-doping rule violation for Whereabouts Failures,” the body wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
This implies that the AIU does not trust the judgement of the Disciplinary Tribunal and wants another hearing at CAS and this is coming just after Amusan had claimed her third consecutive Diamond League trophy on Sunday.
In July, the Nigerian, who is the women’s hurdles record holder, was provisionally suspended for missing three drug tests within 12 months and had faced a two-year ban if the charges were upheld.
The suspension was however lifted two days to the Budapest 2023 World Championships by a three-man panel set up by World Athletics to review the AIU action.
But the AIU expressed its disappointment with the verdict and vowed to review the reasoning in detail before deciding whether to exercise its right of appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within the applicable 30-day deadline, which expired on Saturday.
AIU Head, Brett Clothier, also indicated the Monaco-based body would appeal the decision which was collaborated by AIU’s David Howman who told reporters at the last World Athletics Championships in Budapest: “We have some concern that it might set a precedent which will be difficult for future.”
Amusan failed to defend her World Championship title in Budapest while dropping in ranking, sliding from 25th to 33rd in the women’s overall weekly rankings released by World Athletics prior to the Diamond League finals in Eugene on Sunday.
She had won the finals for the third time, setting a season-best time of 12.33 seconds.
