Dwain Bid Set For Judge's Chambers

Jul 13 2008 By Bill Mcintyre

DWAIN CHAMBERS closed in on an Olympic lifeline by winning the 100 metres at the UK National Championships yesterday - then put his faith in his legal team to finish the job.

The former drugs cheat needed to finish first or second in Birmingham to stand any chance of selection for the Beijing Games, for which he is banned by the British Olympic Association.

Chambers won in a time of 10 seconds dead meaning his fate now lies in the hands of a High Court judge who will decide on Wednesday whether to issue an injunction against his ban.

The 30-year-old said: "That was hard work. I'm just glad to have done my part of it and hopefully this week things will go well. It was a tough race but I just tried to keep my head clear all the way.

"My biggest fear was that I'd mess up. I thought 'Keep cool, keep cool'. I'm so happy."

Asked how he would cope with the impending court case he said: "It's going to be tough but I will keep my spirits high.

"Hopefully it will go in my favour for the Olympics. I just want to go and do well for my country."

Simeon Williamson secured his Olympic place by finishing second with a personal best of 10.03secs.

Williamson was pleased with his run and said: "It's Olympic trials, not just a back-street meet.

"Now I'll be competing for my country so hopefully I'll go out there and do really well."

In third place was Craig Pickering who has signed a petition against Chambers' legal action.

Pickering said: "I respect Dwain as an athlete but he has done bad things in the past and the rule existed prior to that."

Meanwhile, Greg Rutherford, whose career has been interrupted by injury since winning the 2006 European long jump silvermedal, clinched his spot at the Games with a superb victory.

The 21-year-old from Milton Keynes took the lead with a leap of 8.19 metres in round four.

Then with his next attempt he equalled the Beijing qualifying mark with a 1cm improvement.

Chris Kirk took second with a personal best of 7.93m ahead of former Commonwealth champion Nathan Morgan who cleared 7.88m.

In the women's 1500m Lisa Dobriskey and Susan Scott clinched their Olympic places after finishing first and second.

Dobriskey raced home with a blazing sprint in the final 50m to beat Glasgow track star Scott by 0.82sec in a time of four minutes, 15.84secs.

World indoor 60m silver medalist Jeanette Kwakye won the 100m by 0.09secs ahead of Montell Douglas and both will now head to China as will Andy Turner who won the 110m hurdles in 13.58secs.