Boa Declared ‘non-compliant’ By Wada

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has declared the British Olympic Association “non-compliant” with its global code, after the BOA continued to stand by its lifetime ban for drugs cheats.

Although the announcement would have been expected, WADA’s ruling is likely to aggravate tensions between the two bodies.

WADA’s foundation board met in Montreal on Sunday and declared that the British stance gave it no other option than to declare the BOA non-compliant – which, technically, puts Team GB at the London Games at risk.

Following the decision WADA wrote to the BOA urging it to review its policy.

However, the BOA insists it is standing firm on maintaining its policy, and want to test its right to keep lifetime bans in place and reportedly plan to take the case to the Lausanne-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

In October, CAS ruled the that International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) own rule barring serious doping offenders was unenforceable – a move that has allowed USA Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt to try to defend his title at London 2012.

In a statement the BOA said the ruling had brought clarity and closure to its dispute with Wada, adding: ‘We look forward to receiving the formal findings from Wada setting out how they have determined the BOA’s selection policy is non-compliant with the world anti-doping code.’

Currently, sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar are banned from the Olympic Games, under the BOA rules.