• London Olympics 2012

BOA will 'embrace' cheats if bylaw is overturned

Dwain Chambers could still run at London 2012 © Getty Images

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The British Olympic Association (BOA) has stressed that athletes including Dwain Chambers will be "fully embraced into the team" if the organisation's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) over lifetime bans from the Olympics is unsuccessful.

The BOA is challenging the World Anti-Doping Authority's (WADA) ruling that convicted drug cheats should be allowed to resume competing in all events - including the Olympics - after serving two-year bans.

The BOA is the only national body that disagrees with the ruling, still enforcing a lifetime ban for any British athletes - a bylaw that has been deemed "non-compliant" by WADA.

BOA are going to the CAS to retain the right to ban convicted cheats for life, with a decision expected by April at the latest. If the appeal is unsuccessful, however, BOA chairman Lord Moynihan has stressed that previous pariahs including sprinter Chambers will be welcomed back into the squad with no hard feelings.

"If [the bylaw] is overturned by the lawyers, you can rest assured they will be fully embraced into the team, they will have the same treatment as anybody else and we will wish them luck," Moynihan told the BBC.

"We are going to CAS to try to win this case, we believe we need to do so on behalf of clean athletes and reflect the 90-95% of athletes who consistently ask for this selection policy."

On the merits of the case itself, he added: "We have full autonomy to decide who we are going to select and we believe that is a very strong position in front of CAS. This is not a sanction or double jeopardy, this is a selection policy. The right of team selectors is the basis for a strong appeal.

"Those who have knowingly cheated other athletes out of selection did so knowingly, they knew the consequences of it.

"They made the decision to cheat their fellow athletes, they knew the price they were going to pay and ultimately when you talk about redemption you've got to talk about the redemption of those clean athletes who were denied selection as a result of an athlete who was taking a cocktail of drugs to enhance their performance, and denied that [clean] athlete ... the chance of getting selected for the pinnacle of their sporting career, namely the Olympic Games."

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