Cook Islands' Wesley Tikiariki Roberts competes in a heat of the men's 100m freestyle swimming event during the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka. GETTY IMAGES

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will need to make a ruling on a universality place request from Cook Islands swimmer Wesley Tikiairki. This decision will determine if Tikiairki can participate in the upcoming Olympic Games in Paris under the universality quota.

According to the organisation, they are designed to increase the diversity of nations participating in the Olympic Games sports programme, as some nations may have dozens or even hundreds of athletes with a guaranteed place at the Olympic Games at the end of the qualification process in each sport, while others may have only a handful.Universality quotas are available as part of the qualification system in certain sports for nations that have traditionally had small delegations.



Cook Islands

The Cook Islands, in Oceania, requested and were denied by WA (Worlds Aquatics) on 19 July, so they have requested arbitration from CAS, the specialised body.Thus, the Cook Islands Aquatics Federation (CIAF) and the Cook Islands National Olympic and Sports Committee (CISNOC) (the two Parties) have filed a Request for Arbitration.

The Claimants request that the CAS ad hoc Division annul the contested decision and order WA to award Wesley Tikiairki Roberts a universal slot for the swimming competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The case will be heard by Kristen Thorsness (USA) as sole arbitrator. The hearing is scheduled for the morning of 23 July 2024.



The procedure

The Olympic Games Tripartite Commission is responsible for allocating these quotas to the eligible National Olympic Committees. This Commission is composed of representatives of the International Olympic Committee, the Association of National Olympic Committees and the Association of International Summer Olympic Federations.National Olympic Committees that participated in the Rio 2016 or Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with an average of eight or fewer athletes per sport are eligible for a universal quota.