Sweden’s appeal for Lisa Norden to also be awarded gold in the Olmypic triathlon denied by CAS.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has confirmed the results of the women’s triathlon at the London 2012 Olympic Games, dismissing an appeal filed by the Swedish Olympic Committee and the Swedish Triathlon Federation.
Norden will remain as the silver medallist while Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig, who was declared the winner at the conclusion of the race, will keep her gold medal as the Olympic champion.
In an extremely close sprint finish in the women’s triathlon competition at Hyde Park on Saturday 4 August, Spirig and Norden clocked the exact same time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 48 seconds. But the race referee declared Spirig the gold medallist and Norden the silver medallist according to ITU Competition Rules.
After the race, the Swedish Olympic Committee and Swedish Triathlon Federation officially appealed the results. The ITU Executive Board met and upheld the race referee’s decision.
The Swedish Olympic Committee referred the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which confirmed the original results. In a statement, CAS said: “The panel rendered its decision this morning: it denied the application in view of the fact that there was no violation of any ITU rule and that the matter concerned a ‘field-of-play decision’ which, according to long standing CAS jurisprudence, is unable to be reviewed by CAS panels except in the event that there has been arbitrariness or bad faith in arriving at such decision.”
This was the first time Olympic gold in triathlon was decided by a photo finish.