Carl Myerscough, the British record-holder in the shot, is planning a groundbreaking legal case that could pave the way for those with doping convictions to compete at the Olympics. He is on the verge of mounting a High Court challenge to the British Olympic Association (BOA) bylaw that gives mandatory life bans to those found guilty of doping offences.

Among those watching Myerscough’s case will be Dwain Chambers. The silver medal-winner in the 60 metres at the World Indoor Championships in March was vilified on his second return to the Great Britain team after a drugs ban, with UK Athletics (UKA) admitting it did not want to pick him for the team but had no choice under its published selection criteria. There followed a febrile analysis of the case while, almost unnoticed, Myerscough was also selected for the team to compete in Valencia.

When the threat of Chambers taking the BOA to the High Court surfaced, Lord Moynihan, the chairman, vowed to defend the organisation. “There will be no room for cheats in the British team as long as I am involved with the BOA,” he said. “We will pay whatever is necessary to have top lawyers represent us.”

However, some leading lawyers have already suggested that Chambers would have been successful. Dick Pound, a lawyer and former president of the World Anti-Doping Agency, said the BOA was on “shaky ground”. Adrian Barr-Smith, of Denton Wilde Sapte, whose clients have included Tiger Woods and Chelsea Football Club, added: “If I was representing a banned athlete, I’d want to look at the general law of restraint of trade and banning regimes in other sports.”

Like Chambers, Myerscough, 29, has already served a two-year ban for doping. The BOA bylaw is an additional punishment that many believe is morally right but legally flawed.

Myerscough was banned for taking a cocktail of illegal substances in 1999, but unlike Chambers has always protested his innocence. A UKA-backed appeal against the BOA ban before the 2004 Olympics failed. He moved to the United States shortly after receiving his ban. On his return he broke Geoff Capes’s indoor and outdoor British records before representing Britain at the European Cup and Commonwealth Games.