Holmes and Redgrave back Chambers ban after Dwain beats qualifying time

Chambers, who achieved the required qualifying time on Saturday, is expected to go to the High Court this week to challenge the British Olympic Association's lifetime ban triggered by his positive test for the designer steroid THG.

The BOA, who have a bylaw imposing life bans on any athlete who fails a drugs test, have responded by supporting a petition initiated by the British Athletes' Commission.

Man in a hurry: Chambers believes he can overturn his Olympics ban after twice beating the 100m qualifying time

The petition says: 'The core foundation of the Olympic Movement is its values of fair play, respect and friendship.

'As Olympians we are the custodians of those ideals and any athlete who has taken performance enhancing drugs has not respected their worth.

'The highest accolade for any athlete is to be an Olympian and we believe that allowing drug cheats the privilege of competing at the Olympic Games for Team GB is wrong.'

Redgrave said: 'Every athlete who competes for Great Britain knows the British Olympic Association's rules. If an athlete takes the risk of cheating, he has to accept the penalties.'

Another to sign the petition, Chris Hoy, who won cycling gold in Athens, insisted: 'To remove this bylaw would be a huge step backwards in the fight against doping in sport. In addition to fighting this challenge, I believe our efforts should be focused on persuading the IOC that all nations wishing to compete in an Olympic Games should have a similar policy.'

Chambers' lawyers have 21 days to overturn his ban before the team for Beijing is finalised on July 20. The case could be heard in the High Court next week.

His solicitor Nick Collins confirmed that the BOA have been notified of an appeal against the ban and that specialist sports barrister Jonathan Crystal, who will represent Chambers, has completed the paperwork.

'We think we have a strong case but that is for the judge to decide,' he said. The appeal was triggered when Chambers twice beat the Olympic time of of 10.21sec that UK Athletics' selection policy demands.

He ran 10.14sec in a heat in Biberac an der Reiss in Germany and 10.06 in the final, his fastest since his return in 2006 from his twoyear doping suspension.

Lord Moynihan, the BOA chairman, reiterated yesterday his determination to 'robustly defend' their 16-year-old rule which forbids selection of any athlete banned for a drug offence.

Win or lose, the BOA are unlikely to recover their legal costs because Chambers has no assets. His own legal team are believed to be doing the work on a no-win, no-fee basis because of Crystal's personal friendship with the sprinter.

Crystal, who has advised Brian Lara, Frankie Dettori and Sam Allardyce, has been Chambers' adviser since they met two years ago in Hyde Park where the sprinter was practising American football and the barrister was exercising his wife's dog.

Watching the High Court action closely will be two others banned for drugs: cyclist David Millar and shotputter Carl Myerscough. Millar, winner of three stages of the Tour de France, declined to challenge the BOA because he did not wish to bring negative headlines to British cycling.

Chambers is leaving the appeal to his legal team while he completes his qualification at Olympic trials that begin in Birmingham on July 11.

'I've taken up this challenge and, as I have said before, I would only do it because of my strong feelings about how well I can run in the Olympic Games,' he said.