Sunday 29 April 2012

BOA Loses CAS Battle


Britain's former drugs cheats can compete at London 2012 after a court overturned the British Olympic Association's policy of handing out lifetime bans, BBC Sport has learned.

The BOA has lost its battle with the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas).

It means the likes of sprinter Dwain Chambers, 34, and cyclist David Millar, 35, can try to qualify for Team GB.

Cas is expected to formally announce its decision at 1500 BST on Monday.

Athletes will still have to reach the Olympic qualifying standard to be considered for selection.

After both men served two-year bans, Chambers campaigned for the BOA's by-law to be revoked.

The BOA had been locked in a lengthy legal battle with Wada over what it said was its right to continue imposing lifetime Olympic bans on British athletes, even after serving suspensions for taking performance-enhancing drugs.

The governing body went to Cas to challenge a ruling from Wada which said that this by-law was not compliant with the Wada code.

The by-law was introduced more than 20 years ago and has kept a number of British athletes out of past Olympics.

The BOA argued that its requirement for athletes to have clean drugs records was part of its Olympic selection criteria and had nothing to do with extending violators' punishments.

But this legal viewpoint - supported by a number of high-profile current British athletes and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) - has been rejected by Cas, paving the way for Chambers and Millar to seek their place in Team GB.

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