Controversy over the “universal quota” at the Paris Olympic marathon

In December 2022, World Athletics published the classification criteria for Olympic Games in Parisestablished that half of the places will be for the athletes who reach the minimum score and the other half will be filled based on the world ranking.

But, in addition, they are reserved general quotas intended for National Olympic Committees that do not have athletes classified according to said criteria. In this way, the goal is to ensure that the majority of countries are represented in athletics events.

This regulation has caused controversy in recent days due to the final list of athletes classified for the Paris Olympic marathon, World Athletics eliminated 10 marathoners who had already qualified by ranking to give those spots to other athletes from underrepresented countries..

Because of this, a petition was launched on the site change.org to ask World Athletics to “reconsider” its recent decision and “reintegrate” the displaced athletes.

“University places should also be granted to athletes who qualify through the usual route,” the petition continued, adding that “This proposal, made at the last moment, not only undermines the efforts and aspirations of these athletes but also compromise the principles of equity and transparency in the athletic community.

The text also calls for more “transparency” in communication and decision-making processes to “avoid future discrepancies and ensure that athletes can trust the classification system.”

Among the affected athletes appears the Chilean Hugo Catrileo, the first of those classified by ranking. “The problem is not that new athletes have entered the classification because it is fine, the problem is that @worldathletics has been talking about classification by score for five years and now the 11 athletes who are eligible -should be on that path leaving us,” he wrote on your Instagram account.

Another one of those affected is the American Leonard Korirprofessional runner and member of the United States Army, who threatened to turn to US military lawyers to defend his Olympic berth.

“My coach and I could use a US Army lawyer to help us,” Korir said Wide World of Sports. ““They should set rules and respect them and not change them at the last minute,” he added.

The Australian was also left behind Liam Adams, who said he was in “complete shock” after hearing the news. “If the problem is the number of beds in the Villa, I’ll be happy to pay for my own hotel room if it means I can get to the starting line,” he said.

The injured athletes for the universality quota are as follows:

• Hugo CATRILEO – Chile
• Elroy GELANT – South Africa
• Leonard KORIR – United States
• Liam ADAMS – Australia
• Samuel Tsegay TESFAMARIAM – Sweden
• Abdi Ali GELELCHU – Bahrain
• Tachlowini GABRIYESOS – Refugee Athletes Team
• Il Ilham Tanui ÖZBILEN – Türkiye
• Ser-Od BAT-OCHIR – Mongolia
• Abraham CHEROBEN – Bahrain

The athletes benefited for the universality quota are as follows:

• Yaseen ABDBALLA – Sudan
• Moath ALKHAWALDEH – Jordan
• Valentin BETOUDJI – Chad
• Samuel FREIRE – Cape Verde
• Eduardo Terrance GARCIA – Virgin Islands
• Jordan GUSMAN – Malta
• Il Ryong HAN – North Korea
• Dario IVANOVSKI – North Macedonia
• Amine KHADIRI – Cyprus
• Christian ZAMORA – Uruguay

In the women’s marathon, a total of 95 athletes qualified, 7 of them due to universal quotas.