Athletics: Myerscough's appeal against ban is rejected

Carl Myerscough's hopes of competing in next summer's Olympic Games in Athens were quashed yesterday when the British Olympic Association rejected the British shot put recordholder's appeal against its statutory lifetime ban on athletes who have committed doping infringements.

The 23-year-old, 6ft 10in Blackpool athlete, who sealed a place in Britain's World Championships team last weekend with a AAA Championship record of 21.55m, resumed competing in February last year after a two-year ban for using a banned steroid.

"Although extremely disappointed with the panel's decision, I will now be actively pursuing the issue further through other channels," he said.

In a statement, UK Athletics said it was "disappointed", given that the Commonwealth Games Council for England, which has a similar doping by-law, allowed him to compete in Manchester last summer, where he won a bronze medal.

In contrast, UK Athletics expressed its disappointment on Monday that the Court of Arbitration in Sport had commuted the life ban on discus thrower Perriss Wilkins, who has twice been found guilty of doping offences, and replaced it with a four-year ban which will end on 11 June 2006.