Georgian tennis players barred from Olympics due to brutal paperwork error
Georgia’s women’s doubles tennis team had their Olympic dream dashed before it even began thanks to a paperwork error by their home country.
Oksana Kalashnikova and Ekaterine Gorgodze, the two athletes barred from the Games, were informed by the Georgia Olympic committee prior to travelling to Japan that “their application had been submitted.”
Unfortunately for the duo, that was not actually the case, and nothing was entered on their behalf.
With no official submission into the Games, the pair made a last-ditch effort to keep their Tokyo 2020 hopes alive by taking their case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The CAS denied their appeal Saturday, stating that because no formal entry was submitted on behalf of the women, that the “consequence, however unfortunate for the two athletes, can only be the dismissal of their petition.”
Tennis writer Ben Rothenberg explained that the two athletes could potentially sue the Georgian Olympic Committee because of the mistake.
Update: their appeal already lost.
Sounds like they could probably sue the Georgian federations involved, but definitely no recourse to enter a tournament that is already set to go. pic.twitter.com/hWjFwDA0Hk— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 23, 2021
Rothenberg also explained that another thing working against Kalashnikova and Gorgodze was the fact that there wasn’t even a spot for them in the women’s doubles draw should their appeal be accepted.
The women's doubles draw is, of course, already completed for the Tokyo #Olympics, so I'm not sure where this team would fit in even if they get in. pic.twitter.com/t3j5GoXWEj
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) July 23, 2021
Disappointingly, this is not the first administrative error that has caused athletes to pack their bags before even competing at these Olympics.
Last week, six Polish athletes were sent home after an unfortunate oversight caused the country to send too many swimmers.
With Day 1 officially underway, let us hope the last of these absurd errors are behind us.
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