Leadership (Abuja)
Salifu Usman
1 July 2008
Abuja — Dwain Chambers will go ahead with a High Court challenge to overturn the ruling on his Olympic ban despite a high-profile petition to prevent it.
Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Steve Redgrave were among 100-plus athletes to rubber-stamp their disapproval.
But Chambers, who last week easily reached the 100m qualifying standard for Beijing, is not swayed by the move.
"The appeal is going ahead," said his lawyer Nick Collins, who insists the views of the public should be heard.
"I understand that Dwain received a fantastic reception on Saturday [at the Biberach meet in Germany]," he said.
"As far as I'm aware none of the names on that petition were there. It is for others to judge whether the public opinion is with him or not, in his appeal.
"The petition speaks volumes for the names that are not on it as much as for the names that are on it." Cyclist Chris Hoy
The British Olympic Association (BOA) has a by-law imposing life bans on any athlete who fails a drug test, which Chambers aims to challenge the legality of.
Chambers, who served a two-year ban for testing positive for the steroid THG in 2003, expects his legal team to start proceedings against the BOA this week despite the protestations of some of the biggest names in British sport.
With the British Athletes' Commission (BAC) asking athletes to sign a petition opposing the by-law's removal, five-times Olympic rowing gold medallist Redgrave voiced his disapproval.
"Every athlete that competes for Britain knows the rules," he said.
"If an athlete takes the risk of cheating they have to accept the penalties that go with this."
And BAC boss Peter Gardner told BBC Sport on Sunday: "The petition carries weight because it has support from many athletes."
One of the group, GB sprinter Craig Pickering, was denied a place at the World Indoor Championships in March when Chambers qualified ahead of him.
"Taking drugs is the worst crime that can be committed within the sporting world," Pickering said.
"It involves lying, cheating and robbing people who may have worked for more than a decade to achieve greatness, only to have it taken away from them at the last minute."
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