BOA files appeal on career ban on doping

Colin Moynihan, the chairman of the British Olympic Association, speaks at a news conference in Sydney, Australia in this file photo from last month. AP photo

The British Olympic Association (BOA) yesterday filed a formal appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in their dispute with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) over controversial lifetime Olympic bans for drugs cheats.

The BOA bans any British athlete guilty of a doping offence from future Olympics. WADA ruled last month that the hardline stance broke the world body’s own rules, which specify a maximum two-year ban for a first offence.

CAS had ruled in October that an International Olympic Committee rule similar to the BOA’s, excluding athletes banned for six months or more from the next

Olympics, amounted to a second sanction and contravened WADA’s anti-doping code.

The IOC accepted the CAS ruling and nullified its law.

“The BOA selection policy is a direct expression of the commitment British athletes have made to uphold the values of fair play, integrity and clean competition - values that are at the heart of Olympic sport,” BOA chairman Colin Moynihan said in a statement.

“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 Britain at the Olympic Games.”

The BOA said it had appealed to CAS to “obtain clarity on the status of its selection policy well in advance of the London 2012 Olympic Games”.

The Games open on July 27.