Carter has strong chance at CAS - Blake
Published:Monday | January 30, 2017 | 12:00 AMAndre Lowe
President of Jamaica's track and field authority, the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), Dr Warren Blake, is convinced that Nesta Carter's legal representatives would have a solid case on which to mount an appeal of his Beijing 2008 disqualification.
Carter retroactively tested positive for the prohibited substance methylhexanaemine at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, resulting in the men's 4x100m relay team of which he was a member being disqualified from the event.
The sprinter is currently awaiting direction from his London-based legal team and has 15 days to appeal the ruling to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
"Having looked at the report of the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) disciplinary tribunal and some of the things that they did, it became obvious that some missteps were probably made, and the (Carter's) lawyers, in my opinion, have a very good case for the case to be dismissed at CAS," Blake was quoted as saying in an interview with Hitz 92 FM.
Blake takes particular issue with the decision to deny Carter's request for an analysis of his tested sample.
"It's Nesta Carter's right to request the analysis of his A sample and the analysis was done in two batches. It was analysed in 2008 and again analysed as an A sample in 2016, and the IOC's disciplinary panel has decided that they will not provide the analysis of the 2008 sample. To me, this is a transgression of his (Carter's) rights and gives him excellent grounds for appeal," Blake argued.
"It does go against natural justice," added Blake. "They are the ones accusing him, they are the ones judging him, and at the same time denying him evidence that his defence team feels is important and they (IOC) are saying that in their view it is not important so they are not giving it to him.
"... They stated in their statement that they did not have it to give, and I think that's a gross error on their part because if they are going to be keeping A samples of people who they tested, they should also keep the lab documentation and they should do this for all the athletes they retested," Blake added.