July 19, 2021
Max Baines, instructed by the sports law specialists Solesbury Gay, represented UK Athletics (UKA) in proceedings against the GB Olympic athlete Andrew Butchart.
The British 5,000m runner, speaking on a now-deleted podcast, made comments about how athletes were faking the results of Covid tests in order to board international flights and described the process of changing the time and date on an earlier PCR test.
Butchart was cleared of falsifying his own test result but a UKA Disciplinary Committee found that he had made statements which brought the sport of athletics into disrepute; he was given a 12-month ban, suspended for two years, and a £5,000 fine.
He is now clear to compete in the men’s 5000 metres at Tokyo 2020.
The final at this year’s Games will take place on Friday, 6 August, with the heats on 3 August.
UKA is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the UK. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athlete officials.
News reports here:
[The Evening Standard]
[Reuters]
[BBC News]