Team Cook Islands is hoping to add swimmer Wesley Tikiariki Roberts as the third athlete to compete at the Paris Olympic Games, which start this Friday in France.

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

Roberts, the first Cook Islander to set a Pacific Games record (two swimming records at the 2023 Pacific Games), was initially named in the team but wasn’t part of CISNOC’s final list released last week.

Cook Islands News contacted Cook Islands Aquatics Federation president Romani Katoa on Friday to seek clarification on the swimmer’s exclusion.

Yesterday, Inside the Games website reported that the Cook Islands Aquatics Federation and CISNOC have filed a request for arbitration to allow Roberts to complete under the universality quota.

The request was filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which was expected to announce its ruling on a universality place request this morning.

According to the organisation, they are designed to increase the diversity of nations participating in the Olympic Games sports programme, as some nations may have dozens or even hundreds of athletes with a guaranteed place at the Olympic Games at the end of the qualification process in each sport, while others may have only a handful.

Universality quotas are available as part of the qualification system in certain sports for nations that have traditionally had small delegations.

According to Inside the Games, Cook Islands requested and were denied by World Aquatics on July 19, so they have requested arbitration from CAS, the specialised body.

The Cook Islands Aquatics Federation and CISNOC requested that the CAS annul the contested decision and order Worlds Aquatics to award Roberts a universal slot for the swimming competition at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

The case was to be heard by Kristen Thorsness (USA) as sole arbitrator. The hearing was scheduled for the morning of July 23, 2024.

The Olympic Games Tripartite Commission is responsible for allocating the universality quotas to the eligible National Olympic Committees. This Commission is composed of representatives of the International Olympic Committee, the Association of National Olympic Committees and the Association of International Summer Olympic Federations.

National Olympic Committees that participated in the Rio 2016 or Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games with an average of eight or fewer athletes per sport are eligible for a universal quota.

Earlier this month, Athletics Cook Islands confirmed that middle distance runner Beddoes will be heading to Paris after making the cut through universality quota.

Meanwhile the Atiu-born, Australian-based swimmer Roberts won two gold medals, a silver and a bronze medal at the Pacific Games in Solomon Islands last year.

He claimed the first gold medal for Team Cook Islands in the men’s 400-metre freestyle with a time of 3 minutes 58.41 seconds.  Roberts added a bronze medal to his tally in the men’s 200-metre individual medley, clocking in at 2:09.81 minutes. He then shattered the 100-metre freestyle record for men, which had stood since 2015. He clocked a blistering 50.05 seconds in the final, showcasing his exceptional speed and skill. On the same night he competed in the 50m men’s butterfly final where he managed silver medal after finishing the race in 24.86 seconds.

In his final race, Roberts secured another gold medal – his second at the Pacific Games – in the 200-metre freestyle and set another record of 1.49.78 minutes, surpassing the 2007 record of 1.50.27 mins set by Pacific Games legend Ryan Pini.

Roberts won the Sportsman of the Year and Sports Achievement of the Year and Lanihei Connolly claimed the Sportswoman of the Year and Junior Sportswoman of the Year at the 2023 Cook Islands Sports Awards held in May this year.

• Additional reporting by Oscar Allende/Inside the Games