In the darkest days, Rabah Yousif and his team-mates would be beaten by their whip-wielding coach. The welts, bruises and endemic fear drove Yousif to a new life in the North East, but now this potential Olympian faces the prospect of being tried by military court in a land ravaged by murder.

Yousif is a good runner, good enough to win the England Under-23 400 metres title in June and to be fourth on the British timesheets this year behind Tim Benjamin, Martyn Rooney and Andrew Steele. He probably would have made the team for the World Championships in Osaka, Japan, but for being a Sudanese national seeking asylum. His case will be heard next Wednesday.

“I was a soldier in Sudan but I ran away from a training camp in Sheffield before the World Junior Championships in 2002,” he said. “It was hard at home. Our coach would beat us if we did not get out of bed on time. You could not say anything because he was a higher rank. If I go back I will go to a military court. It would be a disaster.”

The case has shades of the Zola Budd controversy, when the South African middle-distance runner was fast-tracked to British citizenship so that she could compete at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. With a military court martial awaiting Yousif in Sudan and a partner and son dependent on him in Britain, the stakes are far higher this time. Where Budd’s arrival might have been viewed as sporting expediency, allowing Yousif to follow his dream may be deemed a basic human right.

Fearing that he might be killed, Yousif absconded as a teenager, leaving behind his parents and four sisters. He was granted asylum until the age of 18 but has since been embroiled in a protracted legal battle.

Meanwhile, the situation in Sudan has become an indelible stain on the world’s conscience. More than 200,000 people have been killed in Yousif’s native Darfur as the Sudanese Government has allowed an Arab militia, the Janjawid, to implement a policy of mass murder.

It is no wonder Yousif prefers to talk about going to Beijing, although it would be a rush to gain British citizenship in time for next year’s Olympics, even if he was not deported and then qualified for the team. However, he is only 20 and Carol Williams, his coach at Middlesbrough Athletics Club, is convinced of his talent. “He is very, very good and could be a regular member of the British team,” she said.

Because Yousif cannot work or claim benefits, for the past five years he has had to rely on the goodwill of people such as Williams. “He’s like another son,” she said. “He was a high jumper and it took him about a year to learn how to run the 400 metres, so the potential is huge.”

Yousif, who lives in Thornaby, near Middlesbrough, has a partner, Sophie Legg, and a 16-month-old son, Noah. He lost his case to stay in Britain but won the first stage of a judicial appeal in June. “He is a wonderful man and a loving father,” Legg said. “We’d be devastated if he was sent back.”

Yousif watched as some of his old friends competed for Sudan at the World Championships a month ago. “My dream is to run for Britain in the Olympics,” he said. “I can go much faster as I have not been able to compete in the top races.” There is also the fact that he turned his back on athletics for a year after arriving in Britain. He then joined Newham & Essex Beagles, under the tutelage of Bob Smith, and the coach has since said that he will appear at the appeal if he is needed. “He’s a smashing lad,” he said.

Yousif’s case was thrown into sharper focus when he turned up for the England Under-23 Championships in Bedford a few days before the most recent hearing. He won his heat and the final to signal his promise and put UK Athletics (UKA) in a difficult position. Williams said that the governing body has backed him as far as it can. However, Yousif knows that Richard Buck, whom he beat in Bedford, is funded by UKA’s World Class Development programme.

For all the goodwill from the likes of John Burton, Tony Blair’s election agent, and Justice First, the refugee support group, Yousif knows that his fate lies in the hands of the barristers.

“I cannot do anything and just have to wait,” he said. “It is very hard. I am afraid of what will happen if it goes against us. I just want to stay here with my family and continue to develop as an athlete. I am very ambitious. I know what I can do. I just need to stay and then I can show it.”