Dwain Chambers misses Olympic application deadline
Dwain Chambers misses deadline to appeal against lifetime Olympic ban.
Also In The News
|
XL Recordings, out Monday February 18th. |  |
Monday, 18, Feb 2008 05:07
Dwain Chambers may not be able to compete in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing after failing to meet a deadline to appeal against his lifetime ban.
The sprinter was banned from competing at the Games by the British Olympic Association (BOA) after failing a drugs test in 2003, but had looked to follow his inclusion in the GB squad for the World Indoor Championships in Valencia by winning an appeal to overturn his suspension.
However, 29-year-old Chambers has missed the deadline of Friday February 15th to submit his appeal.
A spokeswoman the BOA said the association has not yet received any correspondence from the shamed sprint star.
"The deadline was February 15th if he [Chambers] wanted to compete in Beijing," she was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying.
"We haven't received any communication from him as far as I am aware."
She added that Chambers is free to appeal at any given time.
However, any effort on Chambers' part to fight the BOA bylaw that forbids the inclusion of doping offenders in Olympic squads could be jeopardised by the substantial volume of paperwork involved in such a hearing.
Chambers tested positive for the designer anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) in 2003, receiving a two-year ban from competition and the lifetime BOA ban at the same time.
He was part of the victorious British 4x100 relay team at the 2006 European Championships before unsuccessfully attempting to forge a career in NFL Europe.
Chambers' controversial return to athletics was completed earlier this month with victory in the 60m sprint in the world indoor trials which resulted in his selection for the GB squad, despite UK Athletics' public reluctance to select him.