Dwain Chambers may consider fighting Olympic ban

Dwain Chambers may consider launching a fresh bid to overturn his Olympic ban imposed for failing a drugs test – but only once this season is over.

The British sprinter will compete at the European Indoor Championships in Paris this weekend and admitted he does “wonder” about racing at London 2012.

But the 32-year-old told BBC Sport: “All I can do is concentrate on the championships on the horizon.

“Then I’ll reconsider what happens at the end of this year.”

In 2003, Chambers received a two-year ban from athletics and a lifetime Olympics ban for using the performance-enhancing drug THG. He later admitted to systematic doping as one of the athletes caught up in the Balco scandal .

He made a comeback in 2008 and tried to get his Olympic ban overturned for the Beijing Games but ran out of time.

Asked if the thought of not being able to compete at the London Games next year is hurting him, he said: “It is something I look at and I wonder.

“My actions have caused reactions and 2012 is not going to be a factor for me.

“All I can do is concentrate on the championships on the horizon – this weekend it’s the European Indoors, then [the World Championships in] Korea in August, then I’ll reconsider what happens at the end of this year.”

In 2008, Chambers won the British Olympic trials and was comfortably inside the qualifying time for the 100m at the Beijing Games.

He went to court to get the British Olympic Association (BOA)’s ban overturned, saying it was a restraint of trade, but the judge refused to grant an injunction to temporarily suspend it, and said the timing of the case just a month before the Games had not helped his case.

Asked if he may again try to overturn the Olympic ban in order to compete in next year’s London Games, Chambers said: “That is a decision that is not on the horizon for us at this stage.

“We have to concentrate on this year. 2012 is a year away and I cannot look beyond my reach at this present time.”

Meanwhile, UK Athletics (UKA) head coach Charles van Commenee made it clear it is not up to him to support a bid by Chambers to overturn his ban.

“BOA regulations say that he cannot compete and I live with regulations as they are are. I respect all rules in our sport,” he said.

The Dutchman said he had been pleased with Chambers since he returned to the British team.

“He has been good in victory and also in defeat, that’s what I like to see. In life – it’s bigger than sport or Dwain Chambers – people deserve a second chance.

“He has taken the opportunity and is leading by example in all sorts of ways.”