Cycling attorney: Judicial process 'compromised'

Attorney Tyrone Marcus has criticised the leaking of information surrounding a TT anti-doping violation at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima, Peru.

Marcus, acting on behalf of a member of TT's cycling team – although not specifying whom – said the anti-doping rule violation has been contested and is currently under judicial consideration before an arbitral body.

Marcus said Pan Am Sports’ recent publication of its final results list from the Lima event, which showed a change in medal recipients, has now compromised this process.

The updated results removed TT as team sprint champions and also took away an individual sprint medal. Only Nicholas Paul's individual gold remained untouched. TT's sprint team in Lima comprised Paul, Njisane Phillip and Keron Bramble.

Marcus said the source of the media reports appears to be a media release issued on December 26 by Pan Am Sports (formerly the Pan American Sports Organization).

“I use this opportunity, as legal representative for one of the cyclists on the TT team, to state that the assertion of and ensuing consequences of an anti-doping rule violation has been legally contested and is currently under judicial consideration before an arbitral body. A key ingredient of this arbitral process is the inherent confidentiality provision that has been crafted to protect against premature disclosure of any information that may form part of the judicial proceedings.”

His statement continued, “It is unfortunate that Pan Am Sports, a reputed umbrella sporting body, has failed to respect such a fundamental feature of dispute resolution, which has been entrenched in many global rules and regulations to promote fairness, equity and sporting justice. In light of the conduct of Pan Am Sports, the appropriate intervention will be made to salvage a process that has now been severely compromised.”

Marcus made clear that his future comments would be limited in order to respect and comply with the rules governing the assertion made against the local athlete and/or team. TT Olympic Committee president Brian Lewis declined to comment as he said he would respect the confidentiality clause.