Barrett is alsosuing the Fencing Federation of South Africa for their complicit involvement inthe failure. 

Epée fencing is atype of sports fencing that utilises the largest and heaviest of the threeweapons used in the sport. Barrett is currently the top women’s epée fencer inSouth Africa and is a multiple medal winner at the African Games and theCommonwealth Games.

According to courtdocuments, Barrett qualified to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games when shecompeted in and won the official International Fencing Federation (FIE)qualifying tournament for Africa held in Algeria in April 2016. 

The FIE is theInternational Sports Federation recognized by the International OlympicCommittee (IOC) as the world governing body of fencing.

Following herqualification for the Olympics, the Fencing Federation of SA recommended toSASCOC that Barrett be entered to represent SA at the 2016 Olympics. The FIEalso notified SASCOC of Barrett’s qualification for the 2016 Olympics andadvised it of the deadline – 6 June 2016 – to confirm her participation in theevent.

Despite this,Barrett alleges that SASCOC intentionally or negligently failed to meet thedeadline to confirm her participation in the 2016 Olympic Games; failed to meeteven its own Olympic Games deadlines; and acted in an unfair, arbitrary,capricious and irrational manner.

Barrett’sinability to compete in the 2016 Olympic Games will cost her sponsorship totrain and study in the USA, which would also have covered the costs of hercompeting in qualifying tournaments in the lead up to the 2020 Olympic Games tobe held in Tokyo. As such, Barrett is suing SASCOC and the Fencing Federationof SA for R5 673 600 plus interest, the cost of the lawsuit, andpossible future relief.

Thomson Wilksmanaging partner, Stephen Thomson says that Barrett’s exclusion from the 2016Olympic Games is a tragedy. “Juliana missed the opportunity to participate atthe Rio Olympics solely due to the bureaucratic incompetence of SASCOC, whonegligently failed to timeously register her as a participant with the IOC. Sheis a young, energetic South African athlete in the prime of her career and theonly Olympic qualifying fencer in the world who did not participate. 

We intend to makefull use of Juliana’s legal remedies toensure that Juliana is compensated for the financial losses she now faces as aresult of SASCOC’s negligence. Unfortunately, this compensation cannot make upfor the emotional trauma that Juliana had to endure during the 2016 Olympicswhen she was forced to watch her peers competing in a competition that she’dalways dreamed of competing in and representing South Africa, and shouldrightfully have been competing in at the time.”

The matter will goto trial in the High Court, Johannesburg on a date to be determined.