CAS 2020/A/6807, Blake Leeper v. IAAF, Award of 23 October 2020

On 23 October 2020, the Court of Arbitration for Sport rendered an award on the use of prosthetic aids in athletics, in the matter opposing track runner Blake Leeper to World Athletics (formerly: IAAF). The CAS panel invalidated a World Athletics rule that placed on disabled athletes the burden to prove that their mechanical aid does not give them an overall competitive advantage over able-bodied competitors. The award is remarkable in that it declared this allocation of the burden of proof invalid, and shifted the burden back on World Athletics to show the existence of a competitive advantage. The case illustrates how issues of proof can be decisive for the real-life impact of a policy involving complex scientific matters, and how CAS decisions can force sports governing bodies to revisit their regulatory approach, as evidenced by the subsequent adoption of the World Athletics Mechanical Aids Regulations. Beyond providing a commentary of the CAS award itself, this article retraces the origins of the World Athletics rule, back to the case of Oscar Pistorius, includes an analysis of subsequent decisions of the CAS and the Swiss Federal Tribunal concerning Blake Leeper, and incorporates the regulatory developments prompted by the CAS award between 2020 and 2022.