Chambers Olympic Dream Haunts BOA, Landis Appeal Rejected -- Update

Chambers to Chambers

Disgraced sprinter Dwain Chambers is about to turn nightmare into reality for the British Olympic Association when he goes to court this week seeking a spot in the Beijing Olympics.

This weekend he ran a 100m race in 10.06 seconds, fast enough to qualify for Beijing under the technical standards for selecting the British team.

But the BOA has banned him for life from competing in a British team at the Games following a 2003 conviction for doping. He has served a two-year ban imposed by the IAAF, so he is free to compete in sanctioned races. But under the BOA ban, he is barred from the trials for the Great Britain Olympic team scheduled for July 11.

Chambers will challenge the BOA ban in the U.K. High Court this week.

“We think we have a strong action but that will obviously be for the judge to decide," said Nick Collins, Chambers’ lawyer.

If Chambers was counting on athlete solidarity to help his cause, he may be disappointed. Nearly 100 British athletes including Olympic champions Steve Redgrave and Kelly Holmes have signed an open letter saying they endorse lifetime banishment from Olympic competition for drugs cheats.

"We, the undersigned athletes, wish to express our public support for the British Olympic Association's bylaw on eligibility for membership of Team GB of persons found guilty of a doping offence," the letter said.

Redgrave in particular wrote that "sport is going through a tough time with drug-related issues and we have to uphold a strong stance. Every athlete that competes for Great Britain knows the BOA's rules. If an athletic takes the risk of cheating then they have to accept the penalties that go with this."

Landis Appeal Rejected

The Court of Arbitration for Sport rejects the appeal of cyclist Floyd Landis that would have enabled him to retain his 2006 Tour de France title.

The announcement was made on Monday.

CAS said Landis is “disqualified from the Tour de France 2006 and is suspended for a period of two years starting from 30 January 2007”. The ruling also affirmed a $100,000 fee Landis needs to pay to the U.S. Anti Doping Agency to cover its costs of defending the appeal.

Landis was appealing a 2007 ruling from an arbitration panel that upheld a positive drug test from the 2006 Tour de France. Tests conducted on samples from one of the last stages of the Tour showed elevated levels of testosterone.

Landis said he is "saddened by today's decision" and is looking at his remaining legal options.

Landis’ lawyer, Maurice Suh, said in a statement "the evidence strongly supports Floyd's innocence. We maintain that the French laboratory's work violated proper procedures and that these violations were not simply technical in nature. They resulted in the inaccurate findings at the heart of this case. CAS's decision, which does not give credence to these violations, does little to require that laboratories and anti-doing agencies are held to the same high standards as are athletes."

The United States Anti Doping Agency disagreed saying. USADA CEO Travis Tygart said he is "pleased that justice was served and that Mr. Landis was not able to escape the consequences of his doping or his effort to attack those who protect the rights of clean athletes."

To read the CAS ruling, click here.

Written by Ed Hula III.

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