LONDON (AFP) — Britain's newly-crowned world 400 metres champion Christine Ohuruogu said on Tuesday she was delighted to be able to compete in next year's Beijing Olympic Games.
The breakthrough for the 23-year-old Londoner came when she won her appeal against a lifetime Olympic ban for missing three out-of-competition drugs tests.
"I am really happy," said Ohuruogu after learning the news, having spent three-and-a-half hours at a hearing in London in front of the Sports Dispute Resolution Panel.
She said: "I am not a drugs cheat. I have been tested constantly this year and I have proved I am clean. It has been a stressful time but the way I ran in Osaka showed that it has not affected me."
Ed Warner, the chairman of UK Athletics, spoke publicly for the first time about how three other British athletes have missed two tests - knowing one more failure would land them in the same predicament as Ohuruogu, who offered those involved some heartfelt advice.
She said: "I would tell them to get as much help as possible from their coaches, from the people around them, just to remind them not to miss the test.
"When I think back about what has happened to me, I could kick myself. I have said it was my fault."
She added to Sky Sports News that the support from top women's marathon runner Paula Radcliffe had been a great help. "She's (Paula) very well respected in the sport and anti-drugs and it was good that she believed in me.
"Things have not really changed but I realise I must be consistent in how I choose my whereabouts so that there is no risk of me missing another test. There is so much at stake but only a small minority of athletes are cheating."
Her successful appeal sets the seal on a remarkable comeback year for Ohuruogu.
In August, just three weeks after after completing a year-long ban imposed by the International Association of Athletics Federations for missing the tests, the 2006 Commonwealth games champion won the 400 metres world gold in Osaka, Japan - a race where Britain's Nicola Sanders finished second.
Dick Pound, chief executive of the World Anti-Doping Agency, had said Ohuruogu should be free to compete in Beijing and so too had Britain's world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe, herself a noted campaigner against drugs in sport.
"Christine has served her punishment and let us remember - and this is a very crucial fact - she has never failed a drugs test," Radcliffe said.
"Drugs, despite all the tests she has undergone in the past, have not been found in her body."
Ohuruogu had taken her appeal before the Sports Dispute Resolutions Panel here on Monday. In this case they overturned a British Olympic Association (BOA) by-law precluding athletes found guilty of drug-test offences from competing in future Games.
A statement from the BOA said: "The panel decided that Christine Ohuruogu's appeal had been successful due to significant mitigating circumstances."
Ohuruogu's appeal would have been aided by the cases of triathlete Tim Don and judo competitor Peter Cousins who were banned in similar circumstances but cleared on appeal.
Britain, unlike a number of other national Olympic associations, imposes a lifetime ban for all athletes found guilty of doping offences, including missed tests, regardless of other punishments imposed by ruling sporting bodies.
BOA chief executive Simon Clegg, who said he would be happy to have Ohuruogu in the Beijing team should she be selected by UK Athletics, defended the system which led to her ban.
"Athletes must be fully aware of their obligations to keep their whereabouts information up to date at all times and must ensure that they are available for testing at the designated times and places."
Ohuruogu was brought up in Stratford, east London, where the 2012 Olympics will be staged and was widely tipped to be the "face of the Games" for that event until becoming involved in doping controversy.
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