Banned Chambers begins his legal battle to secure place on Team GB at Beijing Olympics

Chambers is currently barred from competing in an Olympics under a BOA bylaw
which ban drug cheats from the British team unless there are mitigating
circumstances.

A statement from Chambers' legal team said: "Ford and Warren are able to
confirm that they have, today, issued proceedings on behalf of Dwain Chambers
against the British Olympic Association.

Lots to contemplate: Dwain Chambers

'The question the court is asked to decide is whether the BOA bylaw in
relation to persons found guilty of a doping offence is void and unenforceable
against first time offenders.

'Mr Chambers will seek, from the court, a declaration that the bylaw is
unenforceable; a declaration that he is eligible for inclusion in Team GB for
Beijing 2008; and an order that, subject to his achieving first or second place
at the UK trials, he be included in Team GB for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.'

The statement added: 'The basis of Mr Chambers claim is that the bylaw is an
unreasonable restraint of trade in that it goes further than is reasonably
necessary for protecting the interests of BOA and the public; and further, that
the bylaw is inherently unfair and unreasonable given the surrounding
circumstances.'

Chambers, 30, is well aware that having served a two-year suspension for using
the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) he could not pursue the
mitigating circumstances route through the BOA.

He will be hoping the BOA will agree to the case being heard next week before
the British Olympic trials take place in Birmingham the following weekend.

Chambers, after posting the fastest 100m time by a British athlete of
10.05seconds in Sofia on Monday, is favourite to win the title in Birmingham.

A victory at Alexander Stadium where the heats take place on the Friday evening
(July 11), followed by the final the following afternoon, would normally
guarantee him selection.

But his barrister Jonathan Crystal, a specialist sports barrister, will need to
convince the judge at the hearing, which may possibly last two days and cost
around £200,000, that the BOA regulation is unfair.

There have been successful appeals against the lifetime ban in the last 16
years - the last being 400m world champion Christine Ohuruogu's - but nobody has
challenged the actual legality of the rule in the courts until now.

The BOA have pledged to 'vigorously and unequivocally' defend their right to
ban drug offenders from competing at the Olympics.

A statement from the BOA said: 'We can confirm that the British Olympic
Association has received service of proceedings from lawyers acting on behalf of
Dwain Chambers.

'The BOA will vigorously defend any case that comes to us which is challenging
our eligibility bylaw.

'In the interests of the British Olympic Movement and the athletes who aspire
to line up at an Olympic Games and our youngsters looking for Olympic glory in
London, the BOA confirms that it will vigorously and unequivocally defend its
lifetime ban on drug cheats who have brought themselves and their sports into
disrepute.'

Lord Sebastian Coe, who won Olympic gold for Britain in the 1,500metres in 1980
and 1984, believes Chambers' court case could be 'damaging' for the sport.

He said: 'Clearly as a vice-president of the international track and field federation (IAAF) and as a former competitor I would rather that he didn't do that.

'I think it is distracting, it is damaging and this is clearly an issue that my sport has to deal very seriously with.

'We test more than any other sport both domestically and internationally and we confront this problem head on.'