David Millar, who served a two-year drug ban from 2004 to 2006, said being included in Britain’s Olympic cycling squad felt like “taking off the final handcuff”.

Following the end of his two-year suspension for taking the blood-boosting agent EPO, he still remained barred from future Olympics under the British Olympic Association bye-law imposing a lifetime Games ban on anyone found guilty of, or admitting to, doping offences.

But that ruling was overturned by the CAS in April, paving the way for the likes of Millar and sprint runner Dwain Chambers to return to Olympic competition.

Millar said: “For eight years, I’d been through it all – bans, sanctions, being ostracised, legal problems – and the only thing left to hang over me was my lifetime Olympic ban and I didn’t realise how much I hated living with it until it was actually lifted.

“It was like taking off the final handcuff.”