BOA set to rubber-stamp rule change (From Cotswold Journal)

BOA set to rubber-stamp rule change

5:32pm Wednesday 16th May 2012 in National Sport © Press Association 2013

The lifetime Olympics ban for British drugs cheats is expected to be formally removed on Thursday.

The British Olympic Association (BOA) will ask the heads of all the bodies from the summer and winter sports to vote on a proposal to remove the lifetime ban.

The proposal should be rubber-stamped and that will finally clear the way for sprinter Dwain Chambers and cyclist David Millar to compete at the London 2012 Games, some eight years after they were both banned for two years for doping offences.

The move follows the BOA's defeat in court last month after a last-ditch attempt to hold on to the ban in the face of opposition from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

The BOA have no alternative but to abide by ruling of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

If they refused to do so, WADA would then declare the BOA to be non-compliant with their code and report them to the International Olympic Committee. They in turn would be forced to take the drastic step of preventing the host nation's team taking part in the Games - a state of affairs that would never be allowed to happen.

The BOA will now concentrate on persuading WADA to bring in to bring in longer bans for drugs cheats, including missing at least one Olympics.