Morozova wins Comrades court bid: Top Comrades Marathon women’s contender Alexandra Morozova is back in the race, and she can depart with the elite cluster — not from the back, as had been proposed by the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA).
That was the ruling on Saturday by Pietermaritzburg high court judge Rob Mossop who heard an urgent application by Morozova after her last minute “ban” by the CMA on the grounds that World Athletics had given “clear and specific instructions” that Russian elite athletes who will win prize money were to be denied entry to any of its affiliated races.
She said a clear reading of the WA letter showed there was no ban on athletes competing in any event “simply as a result of them holding a Russian passport”. “Discrimination against me solely on the basis of my nationality is no more acceptable than discrimination against a person based solely on their ethnicity.”Judge Mossop ruled in her favour, and ordered the CMA to pay the costs of the application.The judge said while what was happening in Ukraine was a catastrophe, it did not justify out and out discrimination and singling her out “because she is good”.