14 May 2024
A “Me too” Movement in the Equestrian Arena?
“Never look a gift horse in the mouth” is a well-known saying, yet the proverb might recently have gained new meaning. Just before the recent World Cup finals in dressage and show jumping in Riyad, there were reports about horses with blue tongues in the dressage sport. These non-human athletes did not get enough air, presumably due to overly tight bridles and excessive pressure applied by their riders. Currently, animal protection is not sufficiently harmonized and enforced in the EU, but there are reasons to be hopeful. The EU should take the lead and require member States to implement comprehensive animal protection systems. Continue reading >>
0 
26 July 2023
A Human Rights Breakthrough in Sports Law?
On 11 July 2023, the ECtHR found in its Chamber judgment in Semenya v. Switzerland that international-level athlete Mokgadi Caster Semenya had been discriminated against by the Eligibility Regulations for Female Classification of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF, now World Athletics). These regulations required her to undergo hormone treatment to lower her natural testosterone levels in order to be admitted to international competitions in the female category. In the Chamber's view, Switzerland had violated the Convention by failing to provide sufficient institutional and procedural safeguards to enable Ms. Semenya to have her discrimination complaints effectively examined. If the GC upholds the Chamber’s findings on jurisdiction and scrutiny, the Semenya judgment will have a significant impact on the human rights approach of sports federations and on future CAS proceedings. Continue reading >>
0
14 March 2023
Drive to Survive
On 9 March 2022, the Council of the EU included Nikita Mazepin, the Russian Formula 1 driver competing in the 2021 season, on the list of sanctioned people. Almost one year later, on 1 March 2023, this measure was suspended by the Order of the President of the General Court as an interim measure in the appellation proceedings against the Council decision initiated by Mazepin. In this blog post, I argue that the President of the General Court made a mistake in the factual assessment of the position of Nikita and took a too lenient approach to his request. Continue reading >>
0
20 July 2022
Constitutionalizing the Court of Arbitration for Sport
Claudia Pechstein is an exceptional athlete. On ice, she seems immortal, skating through her 8th Winter Olympics in February 2022 in Beijing. In the court room, she has shown the same determination and refused to back down from a bitter and expensive legal struggle. The most recent decision in Claudia Pechstein's legal odyssey, a decision by Germany's Federal Constitutional Court, is interesting beyond the German context because it concerns one of the most active and at the same time under-researched global courts: The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Continue reading >>
0