Mi-Reu Kang v. World Taekwondo Federation (WTF), Moroccan National Olympic Committee (MNOC), Federation Royale Marocaine de Taekwondo (FRMT), Oumaima El Bouchti

At a glance

Parties

Mi-Reu Kang (Republic of Korea) v. World Taekwondo (WT), Oumaima El Bouchti, Moroccan National Olympic Committee (MNOC) and Fédération Royale Marocaine de Taekwondo (FRMT)

Case no.

CAS 2024/A/10617

Forum and rules

Court of Arbitration for Sport, appeal procedure under the CAS Code (2023 edition)

Treaty

WT Statutes Article 10 (CAS jurisdiction clause)

Tribunal

Prof. Luigi Fumagalli (President), Ms Sarah Grimmer, Mr Dolf Segaar

Sector

Sport (taekwondo); Olympic qualification

Outcome

Appeal dismissed and WT's decision of 2 May 2024 confirmed (operative part 5 July 2024; reasoned award 22 April 2025).

The dispute

Mi-Reu Kang is a South Korean taekwondo athlete in the W-49kg Olympic weight category. In the WT Olympic Ranking published on 6 January 2024 she was 9th and the Moroccan athlete Oumaima El Bouchti was 8th. On 12 January 2024 Ms El Bouchti switched her Olympic weight category to W-57kg. A quota place left unfilled at the Oceania Qualification Tournament was reallocated to the Korean NOC (KSOC) on 26 April 2024. On 2 May 2024 WT revoked that reallocation, citing a technical error that had removed Ms El Bouchti retroactively from the January ranking, and gave the place to the MNOC instead. Ms Kang appealed. She argued that the change of weight category took effect retroactively from 1 January 2024, so that she was rightly ranked 8th. WT argued that she lacked standing to appeal and that the January ranking could not be changed retroactively.

Key holdings

1. Ms Kang has no standing to seek the setting aside of the decision or the reallocation of the quota place to the KSOC. Under Section B.4 of the OQS, quota places are allocated to NOCs, so she was not claiming a right of her own (legitimatio ad causam). Her interest was indirect, and the statements that she would likely be selected were hypothetical. ¶¶ 78–84, 90
2. She does have standing for her requests to rectify the January 2024 W-49kg ranking. Those requests concern her own legal sphere, and the allegedly flawed application of the ranking rules affected her directly, concretely and more intensely than others. ¶¶ 86–90
3. The 1 January Ranking cannot be modified retroactively. Article 1 para. 3.1 of the WT Ranking Bylaw must be read with Article 9, under which a new ranking is valid from the following month. Ms El Bouchti could therefore appear in the W-57kg ranking only from 1 February 2024, and WT was right to correct the error made by the "Simply Compete" system. ¶¶ 98–100
4. The 6 January Ranking was published before the change of weight category and is not affected by later events. Reallocation under Section F of the OQS is based on that ranking, adjusted only for the results of the December 2023 Grand Prix Final. The Standing Procedures on seeding (Article 4.2) have no bearing on it. ¶¶ 101–109
5. Procedural rulings: Mr Kabir Kar was not admitted as an expert because he was not named in the Answer as Article R55 requires, but he could speak as a member of WT's team. The KTA's amicus curiae brief was held inadmissible. Of its annexes, the press release was excluded and the WT regulations were admitted. ¶¶ 45–46

Procedural history

1. 2 May 2024WT revokes the reallocation of the W-49kg quota place to the KSOC and reallocates it to the MNOC.
2. 23 May 2024Ms Kang files her Statement of Appeal.
3. 19 June 2024The Panel is constituted. Dolf Segaar had been appointed in lieu of the Respondents on 12 June 2024.
4. 28 June 2024Hearing held by video-conference. The Second, Third and Fourth Respondents do not attend.
5. 5 July 2024Operative part of the award: appeal dismissed.
6. 22 April 2025Reasoned award issued.

Tribunal, counsel and experts

Decided by

• Luigi Fumagalli President, CAS Panel — appointed by the institution
• Sarah Grimmer Co-arbitrator, CAS Panel — appointed by the claimant
• Dolf Segaar Co-arbitrator, CAS Panel — appointed by the institution (appointed by the Deputy President of the CAS Appeals Arbitration Division in lieu of the Respondents)

For the claimant

Célia Guignet · James Morrison · Micael Totaro · Seokchun Yun · Dongsuk Shin

For the respondent

Olivier Ducrey · Josepha Nehring

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Keywords

• taekwondo
• Paris 2024 Olympic Games
• Olympic quota place
• standing to appeal
• legitimatio ad causam
• legal interest
• aggrievement requirement
• third-party standing
• WT Ranking Bylaw
• Olympic weight category
• qualification system
• reallocation of quota
• retroactive ranking change
• amicus curiae
• Article R55 CAS Code
• expert evidence
• eligibility

Summary generated with AI from the published documents — refer to the award for the authoritative text.