Chambers loses his court appeal

Another Olympics legal battle has ended.

London's High Court has refused to grant Dwain Chambers an injunction that would have allowed the British sprinter to compete at the Beijing Games.

Chambers, 30, had been trying to overturn a lifetime Olympic ban imposed by the British Olympic Assn. for doping.

Chambers won the 100-meter race at the recent British Olympic trials and would have automatically qualified for an Olympic berth. He'd served a two-year suspension by the IAAF, which governs track and field, but was not eligible for Beijing because of the British Olympic Assn. ban.

The British Olympic Assn., which is expected to name its track and field team for Beijing this weekend, said that the matter is over.

"I have to say that it is a matter of regret that Dwain Chambers, an athlete with such undoubted talent, a winner of the European Youth Olympic Festival 100 (meter) as a young man, should by his own actions have put himself out of the running to shine on the Olympic stage in Beijing," British Olympic Assn. Chairman Colin Moynihan said in a statement.

-- Greg Johnson

Photo: Sprinter Dwain Chambers, center, leaves central London's High Court this morning after losing his bid for an injunction that would have allowed him to compete in the Beijing Games. Credit: Lefteris Pitarakis / Associated Press Photo