Cook Islands swimmer Roberts in last-minute bid for Olympic berth

The Cook Islands team hopes to bring in swimmer Wesley Tikiarikki-Roberts as a third athlete for the Paris Olympics, which open in France on Friday.

The Cook Islands Sports and National Olympic Committee (CISNOC) announced last week that only two athletes – swimmer Raneehei Connolly and athlete Alex Beddoes – will represent the country at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which will be held from July 26 to August 11.

Roberts, the first Cook Islander to set a Pacific Games record (he set two swimming records at the 2023 Pacific Games), was initially selected for the team but did not appear in the final CISNOC list released last week.

Cook Islands News contacted Cook Islands Aquatic Federation president Romani Katoa on Friday seeking clarification on why the swimmer was excluded from the competition.

Yesterday, the Olympic Insider website reported that the Cook Islands Aquatic Sports Federation and the International Olympic Committee had filed an arbitration application to allow Roberts to complete the competition according to the global quota.

The request has been submitted to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which is expected to announce its ruling on the universal eligibility request this morning.

According to the organization, the rules are intended to increase the diversity of countries participating in Olympic sports, as some countries may have dozens or even hundreds of athletes who qualify for the Olympics after qualifying tournaments in each sport, while other countries may have only a handful of athletes.

As part of the qualification system for certain sports, countries with traditionally smaller delegations are given universal quotas.

According to Insider, the Cook Islands filed an arbitration request on July 19, but was rejected by the World Swimming Federation, so they applied for arbitration to the specialized agency, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport.

The Cook Islands Aquatic Sports Federation and the International Swimming Federation asked the Court of Arbitration for Sport to quash the controversial ruling and order the World Aquatics Federation to award Roberts a general quota place for swimming at the 2024 Paris Olympics

The case was originally scheduled to be heard by the sole arbitrator, Christine Tosnes (USA). The hearing is scheduled for the morning of July 23, 2024.

The Tripartite Olympic Committee, which allocates Universal Places to eligible National Olympic Committees, is composed of representatives of the International Olympic Committee, the Association of National Olympic Committees and the Association of International Summer Olympic Federations.

NOCs participating in the Rio 2016 Olympic Games or the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with an average of eight athletes or less per sport are eligible for the general quota.

Earlier this month, the Cook Islands Athletics Association confirmed that middle distance runner Beddoes would travel to Paris after passing a global qualification review.

Meanwhile, swimmer Roberts, who was born in Atiu and now lives in Australia, won two gold medals, a silver and a bronze at last year’s Pacific Games in the Solomon Islands.

He won the first gold medal for the Cook Islands in the men’s 400m freestyle in 3:58.41. Roberts won bronze in the men’s 200m individual medley in 2:09.81. He then broke the men’s 100m freestyle record that had stood since 2015. He showed off his extraordinary speed and technique in the final with an amazing time of 50.05. That same evening, he competed in the men’s 50m butterfly final, winning silver in 24.86.

In his final event, Roberts won another gold medal in the 200m freestyle, his second gold medal at the Pacific Games, and broke the previous record of 1.50.27 minutes set by Pacific Games legend Ryan Pini in 2007 with a time of 1.49.78 minutes.

At the 2023 Cook Islands Sports Awards in May this year, Roberts won the Male Sportsman of the Year and Sports Achievement of the Year awards, while Lanihei Connolly won the Female Sportsman of the Year and Junior Female Sportsman of the Year awards.

• Additional reporting by Oscar Allende/Insider