BOA ‘welcomes’ WADA defeat in drugs ban row

The British Olympic Association insisted it welcomed a ruling by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) on Sunday that effectively declared its lifetime Games ban for athletes found guilty of taking drugs invalid.

WADA’s ruling at a board meeting in Montreal could pave the way for the likes of Dwain Chambers to compete at next year’s London Olympics.

BOA officials have repeatedly insisted the former European 100 metres champion, who served a two-year ban for a doping offence, will not be considered for selection in any British Olympic team.

WADA’s decision, in theory at least, puts London’s hosting of the 2012 Games at risk as associations declared non-compliant are not supposed to stage major events, including the Olympics, under the anti-doping authority’s regulations.

However, WADA president John Fahey said he would not speculate on whether London might lose out as a result of the stand-off.

It seems unlikely WADA will push for the UK capital to be stripped of the Games, not least because of the ensuing complications for any other city forced to host an Olympics at such short notice.

The BOA was declared “non-compliant” with WADA’s global code in a ruling that came after an unusually public row between the two organisations.

At the centre of the dispute is a BOA bylaw, enacted in 1992, that bans British athletes for life from the Olympics if they are found guilty of doping.

That bylaw was already under pressure from CAS decision last month that an International Olympic Committee rule banning athletes suspended for doping for six months or more from competing at the Games was “invalid”.

CAS’s argument was that the IOC rule, and by extension the BOA bylaw, amounted to a second punishment and did not conform with the World Anti-Doping Code, which sets out rules and sanctions for all sports and countries.

BOA chairman Colin Moynihan said last week that Britain would stick to its tough line against dopers and slammed WADA for its “toothless” anti-doping sanctions.

“I’m very disappointed that it’s come to this,” Fahey said.

“I believe that WADA has acted very properly from the moment that we got news of the Court of Arbitration for Sport decision. We asked BOA to consider their decision.

“We had their decision conveyed to us through a vitriolic spray in a speech that was circulated to everyone except us earlier this week.”

A BOA statement said they “welcomed” the WADA ruling as it brought clarity to the dispute.

“On behalf of the majority of British athletes we will vigorously defend any challenge to the selection policy which bans drug cheats from representing Team GB and we will publish the process we intend to follow in the near future.”