Dwain Chambers (centre) reacts as he wins the 100 metres final during the Norwich Union Olympic Trials at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, England, on Saturday. Chambers, who is returning from a two-year drug ban, clocked 10.00 seconds. - AP
LONDON (AP)
Just one of Britain's three 100-metre athletes for Beijing was named yesterday ahead of the outcome of Dwain Chambers' legal bid to overturn a lifetime doping ban.
Chambers was an emphatic 10-second winner in Saturday's national trials, but runner-up Simeon Williamson is the only confirmed sprinter ahead of Thursday's injunction hearing against the British Olympic Association.
The top two Saturday would normally have been assured automatic places, with a third handed out at the BOA's discretion. Craig Pickering and Tyrone Edgar were the third and fourth-placed finishers.
Eligible athletes
"We went with athletes that are eligible," Dave Collins, who heads the Olympic athletics team, said Monday in a conference call with reporters. "Five other athletes at least are in with a shout and we have given them until midnight on the 18th, which was always the closing date for selection standards ... We've got so much talent, we want to give them every chance."
Chambers' hearing was due to be heard tomorrow at London's High Court, but has been delayed 24 hours to allow BOA chairman, Colin Moynihan, to return from an overseas trip.
The BOA would not say whether it would appeal if it lost.
Collins said the 30-year-old Chambers, who served a two-year ban for steroid abuse between 2003-5, would not be ostracised in Beijing if victorious in court.
"He will be treated same as any other athlete," Collins said. "But we're looking at a team size with over 60 athletes, with some people who do and don't get on with each other. Opinions are clearly mixed with many people there ... people don't get on with each other for a variety of reasons."
No certainty
While Chambers would also have to be included in the six-man 4x100 team, there is no certainty he would be selected alongside those who have opposed against his legal challenges.
Collins said the fastest four
runners don't constitute the best relay team.
"There is a lot of complexity to this and something we will take a lot of time over," he said.
Collins also said marathon world-record holder Paula Radcliffe is making "satisfactory" progress as she bids to overcome a stress fracture in her left thigh.
"It is going to be a race against time," Radcliffe added after a fitness check-up yesterday at the British Olympic Medical Institute.
The problem was diagnosed in May after Radcliffe had an MRI for a hip problem.
Collins is targeting five medals in athletics.
"It's a realistic target, always a stretch target, but one to aim for," Collins said.
The final squad will be announced Saturday.
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