As the Games continue, sports lawyers are poised to deal with any Olympian controversies, writes Ian Blackshaw
- Disputes arising at the Paris Olympic Games will be dealt with free of charge within 24 hours by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
- The court deals with increasing numbers of sporting disputes, particularly football cases.
Sport is big business and worth more than 3% of world trade. So, much is at stake both on and off the field of play. With so much money involved in sport nowadays, especially sponsorship of sports persons and teams, it is not surprising that sports disputes are on the increase and wide-ranging.
Râducan: The Golden Girl
From a purely sporting point of view, many disputes relate to eligibility to compete in the Games and also doping cases. For example, at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, a Romanian gymnast, Andreea Râducan, tested positive for a banned substance and was stripped of her gold medal, despite the fact she had been given medication containing traces of the substance concerned by her team’s doctor to alleviate
