Dwain Chambers Judgment Due Friday
A British High Court judge will announce tomorrow whether sprinter Dwain Chambers can join Team GB at the Olympics. Lawyers for Dwain Chambers say an Olympics ban is a restraint of trade for their client. (Getty Images)
Chambers is seeking a temporary injunction to a British Olympic Association bylaw that imposes a lifetime Games ban on drug cheats.
Attorneys for the BOA defended the bylaw in front of a judge on Thursday. Most national Olympic committees and international federations impose a two-year competition ban for a first drug offense, but the BOA takes a tougher stance with the added Olympics ban.
"Anyone who has been following the Chambers case knows cheating in sport, taking drugs to get a competitive advantage, is unacceptable in the Olympic movement," said BOA chairman Colin Moynihan ahead of the hearing.
"We are going to significant lengths to defend our eligibility bylaws on that," he says.
Chambers ran the 100m in just 10 seconds at the U.K. athletics trials last weekend, a time good enough to qualify for the team. But as the deadline to join Team GB is July 19, the judge will only decide on a temporary injunction of the bylaw, not its overall legality.
A Younger Rogge Leads Belgium to Beijing Olympics
The Belgian NOC delegation to the Beijing Olympics is headed by Philippe Rogge, son of IOC president Jacques Rogge.
Belgium is sending a team of 90 athletes to the Olympics, its largest since the 1976 Montreal Games. Philippe Rogge also serves as vice-president of the Belgian sailing team.The NOC sent only 51 athletes to Athens 2004.
“One team, one dream is the slogan for the Belgian team, because we are competing against delegations a lot bigger than ours,” the 38-year-old Rogge was quoted in media reports.
“So we want to really make sure that we're working as a team. Just like in the Chinese culture, teams and families are very important. So we want to make sure by helping each other we can make good performances.”
Belgian athletes are hoping to excel in equestrian, sailing, judo and cycling.
“Our target is to get more than 50 percent of the team in top eight places, we don't have a target in medals,” Belgian NOC spokesman Luc Rampaer tells ATR.
“It's very ambitious because we have not reached that goal before.”
Philippe Rogge is on the board of the Belgian NOC and a member of its selection commission for the Beijing Olympics.
Father Jacques competed in sailing at the 1968, 1972 and 1976 Olympics. In 1989 he was elected president of the Belgium NOC, a post he held until becoming IOC president in 2001. Germany announces an Olympic squad of 436 athletes. Some names for team sports are still outstanding, but the final deadline to join the roster is July 21. They began kitting out earlier this month. (Getty Images)
NOC Briefs…
Mexican diver Paola Espinosa received her country's Olympic flag from president Felipe Calderon in a July 16 ceremony. Espinosa will lead some 83 athletes, subject to final qualifications in beach volleyball.
Venezuela will send its largest-ever contingent to the Olympic Games: 108 athletes. The softball team is qualified for Beijing, as are the men's and women's volleyball teams. Outside of team sports, the swimming contingent is the largest with 13 qualifications.
Guatemala names badminton player Kevin Cordon its Olympic flag bearer. He is one among 12 athletes representing the country in Beijing.
Written by Mark Bisson and Maggie Lee
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