Cas Overturns Boa Drug Cheat Ban
Former drug cheats will be eligible to compete in this year’s Olympic Games after the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned the British Olympic Association’s lifetime ban on offenders – ruling that the bylaw was against the rules of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is expected to formally announce the decision at 1500 BST on Monday, after WADA challenged BOA’s ban.
The decision will now mean that convicted athletes such as sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar will be clear to compete in the London 2012 Olympic Games, if selected.
Chambers was banned for two years in 2003 after testing positive for a cocktail of anabolic steroids, while Millar was banned for two years in 2004 after admitting to taking the banned blood-boosting drug Erythropoietin.
BOA’s bylaw, which requires athletes to have a clean drug record, has been in place since 1992.
The ruling was widely expected, particularly after reigning Olympic 400m champion LaShawn Merritt last year won his appeal against an IOC doping law which prohibited any athlete given a ban longer than six months from competing at the next Games.
