DWAIN CHAMBERS' legal team have filed papers against the British Olympic Association in London in a bid to pave the way for him to compete at next month's Olympic Games in Beijing.
Chambers is currently barred from competing in an Olympics under a BOA bylaw which ban drug cheats from the British team unless there are mitigating circumstances.
A statement from Chambers' legal team said: "Ford and Warren are able to confirm t
hat they have, today, issued proceedings on behalf of Dwain Chambers against the British Olympic Association.
"The question the court is asked to decide is whether the BOA bylaw in relation to persons found guilty of a doping offence is void and unenforceable against first-time offenders.
"Mr Chambers will seek, from the court, a declaration that the bylaw is unenforceable; a declaration that he is eligible for inclusion in Team GB for Beijing 2008; and an order that, subject to his achieving first or second place at the UK trials, he be included in Team GB for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games."
The statement added: "The basis of Mr Chambers' claim is that the bylaw is an unreasonable restraint of trade in that it goes further than is reasonably necessary for protecting the interests of BOA and the public; and further, that the bylaw is inherently unfair and unreasonable given the surrounding circumstances."
Chambers, 30, is well aware that, having served a two-year suspension for using the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), he could not pursue the mitigating circumstances route through the BOA. He will be hoping the BOA will agree to the case being heard next week before the Olympic trials take place in Birmingham the following weekend.
Chambers, after posting the fastest 100m time by a British athlete this season of 10.05 seconds in Sofia on Monday, is favourite to win the title in Birmingham.
The full article contains 319 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
