Britain's newly crowned world 400-meter champion Christine
Ohuruogu yesterday was cleared to compete in next year's Beijing
Olympic Games with her coach promising the "humble" athlete would
now set her sights on adding to her medal tally in China.
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The breakthrough for the 23-year-old Londoner came when she won
her appeal against a lifetime Olympic ban for missing three
out-of-competition drugs tests.
"I'm so pleased for her, we now just have to move on and get
this cloud over our head out of the way," Ohuruogu's coach Lloyd
Cowan said after it was announced yesterday that the one-lap
specialist's ban had been overturned.
"It's not only wonderful news for Christine, but for the nation
as well and as her coach I will be doing everything possible to
assist her to win an Olympic medal next summer.
"She is such a humble person, she deserves that success. Now it
is a case of walking away from what happened and looking to the
future."
Her successful appeal sets the seal on a remarkable comeback
year for Ohuruogu.
In August, just three weeks after completing a year-long ban
imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federation
for missing the tests, the 2006 Commonwealth Games champion won the
400-meter world gold in Osaka, Japan -- a race where Britain's
Nicola Sanders finished second.
Dick Pound, chief executive of the World Anti-Doping Agency, had
said Ohuruogu should be free to compete in Beijing and so too had
Britain's world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe, herself a
noted campaigner against drugs in sport.
"Christine has served her punishment and let us remember -- and
this is a very crucial fact -- she has never failed a drug test,"
Radcliffe said.
"Drugs, despite all the tests she has undergone in the past,
have not been found in her body."
Ohuruogu had taken her appeal before the Sports Dispute
Resolutions Panel on Monday. In this case, they overturned a
British Olympic Association (BOA) by-law precluding athletes found
guilty of drug-test offenses from competing in future Games.
A statement from the BOA said: "The panel decided that Christine
Ohuruogu's appeal had been successful due to significant mitigating
circumstances."
Ohuruogu's appeal would have been aided by the cases of
triathlete Tim Don and judo competitor Peter Cousins, who were
banned under similar circumstances but cleared on appeal.
Britain, unlike a number of other national Olympic associations,
imposes a lifetime ban for all athletes found guilty of doping
offenses, including missed tests, regardless of other punishments
imposed by ruling sporting bodies.
BOA chief executive Simon Clegg, who said he would be happy to
have Ohuruogu on the Beijing team should she be selected by UK
Athletics, defended the system which led to her ban.
"Athletes must be fully aware of their obligations to keep their
whereabouts information up to date at all times and must ensure
that they are available for testing at the designated times and
places."
Ohuruogu was brought up in Stratford, east London, where the
2012 Olympics will be staged and was widely tipped to be the "face
of the Games" for that event until becoming involved in doping
controversy.
(AFP via China Daily November 28, 2007)