Court of Arbitration for Sport to hear British Olympic Association appeal
It has been recently revealed that the Court of Arbitration for Sport will be holding a hearing session sometime in March.
The hearing will deal with the law that the British Olympic Association has to penalise athletes found guilty of doping with a lifetime ban.
The matter of the lifetime ban came to light last year when one of the banned athletes challenged the lifetime ban imposed against him by the BOA and the court ruled in his favour. The decision was based on the fact that there was a discrepancy between the
laws of the BOA and the International Olympic Committee. The World Anti-Doping Agency found the BOA to take a stricter stance on the athletes found to be doping as compared to the laws of the IOC, which penalise the doping athletes with a two-year ban.
As a result of the decision, the BOA had filed an appeal with the highest court for sports in order to challenge the decision given by the WADA that found the BOA to be in non-compliance with the global anti-doping laws.
In defence of the BOA, its chairman Lord Moynihan expressed himself in the following manner, “It is a policy that reflects the culture and character of Team GB. The BOA and British Olympic athletes do not consider that those who have deliberately cheated
should represent Great Britain at the Olympic Games.”
In the event that the ruling is not made in favour of the BOA, it could have major implications. Some of the direct ones will be the opening of the doors for the banned athletes cyclist David Millar and sprinter Dwain Chambers to be a part of the London
2012 Olympic Games that are scheduled to commence from July 27.
The BOA has hired two of the best men to argue their case in the CAS. These are QCs Lord David Pannick and Adam Lewis. The stance that the BOA will take at the hearing is that the lifetime ban is an eligibility restriction that the BOA puts on its athletes
and not a doping sanction.
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