BOA preparing for ban defeat

Dwain Chambers and David Millar are expected to learn on Monday that their lifetime bans from the British Olympic team are to be lifted.

The two athletes have been subject to the British Olympic Association's (BOA) lifetime ban for drugs cheats after being banned for doping offences eight years ago.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will announce a decision on the BOA bylaw on Monday and are expected to back the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in ruling it unlawful, which would allow the sprinter and cyclist to be selected for the London 2012 Games.

The BOA's response will be to accept the defeat with the first action to formally remove the bylaw at a full board meeting.

That will then open the way to allowing UK Athletics to select Chambers in July, and British Cycling to do the same with Millar in June.

The BOA said on Sunday it had no indication yet from CAS on which way the decision would go.

However senior figures in the organisation are resigned to defeat, in which case the BOA will concentrate on their proposals to change WADA's global code on doping.

The BOA are proposing a minimum four-year ban for a first serious doping offence, including missing one Olympics, with national Olympic committees having the autonomy to have tougher sanctions if they so choose including a lifetime ban.

Any such agreement would not come before the London Games however so would not affect Chambers' and Millar's participation.

Most anti-doping experts believe that it is more likely that WADA will agree to change the new code to increase the length of a ban for a serious offence, but will stop short of allowing different Olympic committees to have different sanctions.

Chambers tested positive for the designer steroid THG in 2003 and was banned for two years.

Millar admitted to taking the blood-boosting agent EPO and he too was banned for two years.

Both athletes have since worked closely with the anti-doping authorities to help them crack down on drug cheats.

Chambers has detailed exactly how he took the steroids to try to avoid detection while Millar is now one of the athletes advising WADA on their methods.

London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe is a fervent supporter of the lifetime ban bylaw but former Olympic triple jump champion Jonathan Edwards believes the time has come for it to be ended.

Edwards said: "Athletes should get a second chance. But two years is simply not enough. The world needs to unite and introduce four-year bans."