Chambers begins court battle

Jul 9 2008

DWAIN Chambers began a race against time today to try to clear the way for him to compete at next month's Olympic Games in Beijing.

He was making an application to a High Court judge to lift a lifetime ban on competing in Olympic events.

Chambers is challenging a British Olympic Association (BOA) bylaw which bans those who have used performance-enhancing drugs from the British team unless there are mitigating circumstances.

The 30-year-old knows that having served a two-year suspension for using the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), there is no chance in pursuing the mitigating circumstances route through the BOA.

Instead, he is going directly to the High Court where his application was due to be heard today. He will be represented by Jonathan Crystal, a specialist sports barrister, who was trying to convince the judge the BOA regulation is unfair.