The British Olympic Association (BOA) will turn to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in its fight to defend its strict anti-doping enforcement policy.
The BOA is currently the only National Olympic Committee to impose a lifetime Olympic ban on any athlete who has been banned for more than six months for a doping offence. This policy has been challenged by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), who have declared it to be contrary to the body’s code.
In October, CAS controversially ruled that the International Olympic Committee’s similar rule, prohibiting any athlete who had been banned for more than 6 months for a doping offence from competing in the next Olympic Games, was unenforceable. That decision allows LaShawn Merritt, the world 400m champion, to defend his title at the London Games next year.
Both the BOA and WADA are hoping for a ruling by April 2012, which could allow Dwaine Chambers (the British athlete who received a 2-year doping ban in 2003) to also compete in London.
