DWAIN Chambers yesterday lost his High Court bid to be allowed to compete at the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Mr Justice Mackay refused to grant an injunction temporarily suspending a lifetime Olympic ban imposed on the sprinter, a self- confessed drugs cheat, by the British Olympic Association (BOA) under a by-law.
But he told a packed courtroom: "Many p
eople both inside and outside sport would see this bylaw as unlawful.
"In my judgment, it would take a much better case than the claimant has presented to persuade me to overturn the status quo at this stage and compel his selection for the Games."
Chambers, 30, served a two-year suspension for using the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG).
Jonathan Crystal, representing Chambers, said the BOA by-law was unfair, contrary to competition law and an unreasonable restraint on trade. Chambers had already qualified to compete in the Olympic team after winning the 100 metres at the Olympic trials in Birmingham last Saturday.
David Pannick, QC, for the BOA, told the judge that Chambers "cannot show that sportsmen and women are significantly restrained in their trade by the bylaw which only concerns eligibility for an amateur event, which takes place once every four years and for which there is no prize money".
The full article contains 220 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
