Stona planning to appeal World Athletics decision

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Jamaica’s Olympic champion Roje Stona intends to appeal the recent decision by World Athletics, which prevents him from representing Turkiye on the international stage.

On Thursday, the World Athletics Nationality Review Panel rejected the request by Stona along with several other Jamaican and international athletes to switch their allegiances to Turkey.

In handing down its ruling, the panel said it found that the applications were part of a “coordinated recruitment effort by the Turkish government, operating through a state-funded club.”

However, the 24-year-old who broke the men’s discus Olympic record on his way to gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics, has revealed through his agent Paul Doyle that he will appeal the decision.

“We’re going to appeal it and see where it can go. We’re prepared to take it to the highest level,” Doyle told The Observer in an interview.

Doyle said the decision had come as a shock and had left Stona devastated

“Athletes in the past have been approved, and now all of a sudden, these ones aren’t.

“I can speak for Roje because he’s the only one that I represent. They’ve really truly embraced Turkish culture, so to me it doesn’t make sense,” Doyle said.

“He’s not happy, obviously, but he understands that it’s a process. Hopefully, we can get through this and it’ll work out as favourably as possible for him. The hope was that he would be eligible right away. That’s obviously not going to be the case now, but he’s pretty devastated.”

Stona is one of 11 athletes whose applications were rejected by the World Athletics Nationality Review Panel. The list includes fellow Jamaicans Jaydon Hibbert, Rajindra Campbell and Wayne Pinnock.

The other affected athletes are Catherine Relin (Selin Can) Amanang’ole (Kenya), Brian Kibor (Kenya), Brigid Kosgei (Kenya), Ronald Kwemoi (Kenya), Nelvin (Can) Jepkemboi (Kenya), Favour Ofili (Nigeria) and Sophia Yakushina (Russia).

CMC