By Duncan Mackay

David Millar_in_Team_Sky_GB_kitJanuary 9 - March 12 has been set as the date at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) for the British Olympic Associaiton (BOA) to defend its controversial anti-doping bylaw which, if it is overturned, would allow drugs cheats like Dwain Chambers and David Millar to compete at London 2012.


The BOA filed a formal appeal last month with the CAS to challenge the decision in November by the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA that declared its controversial anti-doping bylaw non-compliant.

The hearing in Lausanne is expected to take a day with the judgement being delivered several weeks later.

If the BOA lose it will leave the way clear for Chambers, the world indoor 60 metres champion, and cyclist Millar, the 2010 world time trial silver medallist, to compete at London 2012. 

They both missed the last Olympics in Beijing because they were inelgible to compete becuase of the BOA bylaw which prevents any athlete sanctioned for a doping offence representing Team GB in the Games.

The BOA will be represented in its appeal by external legal advisors Lord David Pannick QC  of Blackstone Chambers, who represented the BOA when they successfully resisted a claim in the High Court the claim by Chambers to allow him to compete at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

He will be aided by Adam Lewis QC, who is also from Blackstone Chambers.

They will be supported by Tom Cassels of Baker & McKenzie, who also worked on ensuring Chambers was unable to compete in Beijing.

The BOA bylaw has been under heavy pressure since the CAS ruling in November that nullified a separate International Olympic Committee (IOC) rule banning any athlete receiving a doping suspension of more than six months from competing in the next Games.

The centrepiece of the BOA's case will be that they will argue at CAS that the bylaw "is not a sanction for a doping offence" but "a policy that addresses who is, and is not, eligible for selection to Team GB – and makes clear that any athlete who deliberately cheats by using prohibited substances is not eligible.

"The policy addresses what form Team GB should take, and does not seek to punish any individual athlete."

The BOA will also claim that as the law was introduced in 1992, which pre-dates the WADA Code, and that if it is lifted the "presence of athletes who deliberately cheat within Team GB would damage team morale, atmosphere and cohesiveness" and a that "an athlete who deliberately cheats should not take the place in Team GB of a clean athlete, who has trained and competed in full adherence to the rules and without seeking an unfair advantage through the use of prohibited substances".

The BOA will also claim that the IOC "has recently reaffirmed, in writing to the BOA, that it is entirely within the remit of every National Olympic Committee to determine the eligibility standards for its Olympic team".

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