Sebastian Temesi v Judo Australia

The Applicant was nominated by Judo Australia and selected by Commonwealth Games Australia (CGA) to compete as a team member for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. As a result of confusion surrounding the number of male judo players which Australia was permitted to enter by the Commonwealth Games Federation into the Commonwealth Games, the Applicant was de-selected by CGA after consultation with Judo Australia. The Applicant appealed this decision on the basis that Judo Australia did not properly apply its Nomination Policy and had erred in ranking the male athletes selected by CGA. Another Judo athlete and CGA were identified as Interested Parties and made submissions along with the Applicant and Judo Australia. The Tribunal determined that, as unfortunate as the circumstances were, there was no basis upon which the Tribunal could overturn the decision of Judo Australia to rank the male athletes or the de-selection by CGA, largely because it was not possible to enter an additional male athlete in the Games. The decision of Judo Australia was therefore upheld and the Application was dismissed.

In arriving at this decision, the Tribunal considered, and the determination addresses the question of what is a non-nomination appeal and what is a non-selection appeal, the respective powers of Judo Australia and CGA at various stages of the nomination/selection process, and the power of a party (in this case CGA) to revoke a decision it had earlier made, and in effect to de-select an athlete, even if the policy does not specifically provide for a power of “de-selection”.