Ohuruogu prepares for Olympic appeal

The 23-year-old Londoner was pulled out of the British team on the eve of the 2005 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg after missing a third out-of-competition drugs test.

At a UK Athletics independent disciplinary committee meeting, Ohuruogu was then banned under International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rules for a mandatory year.

She also fell foul of the British Olympic Association (BOA), which imposes a lifetime ban on drug offenders representing Great Britain at future Games - meaning she is at present barred from competing in Beijing next summer.

The reigning world 400 metres champion will appeal against the sentence in London when her defence counsel will put forward her mitigating circumstances.

Barrister Michael Beloff QC has plenty of ammunition - public statements and documentary evidence - to use in her defence, and persuade the BOA to reverse its decision.

Dick Pound, chairman of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), is one of the list of high-profile administrators firmly convinced Ohuruogu has served her punishment after committing an anti-doping offence.

The hardline Canadian said: "If I was her lawyer, I would say doping offences are governed by the world anti-doping code.

"The system in which we are working says for the first offence you serve a penalty and then you can come back in.

"It does not call for lifetime denial of access to the Olympics."