LONDON: London 2012 Olympic organising committee chairman Sebastian Coe defended on Thursday the right of the British Olympic Association (BOA) to impose a lifetime Olympic ban on sprinter Dwain Chambers.

The former European 100 metres champion, who has served a two-year drugs ban, filed papers in a London court earlier in the day seeking to overturn the ban. Chambers wants to compete in next month’s Beijing Games after comfortably running a qualifying time. “I actually genuinely think that a governing body of a sport, or a sports organisation, has to do whatever it thinks is necessary to maintain the integrity of the sport,” the twice Olympic 1,500 metres champion told reporters.

“And I don’t think that should be challenged. The sadness of it is that we are going to be inevitably in a six-week period of stuff that we shouldn’t be. We can’t ignore it,” he said. A statement from Chambers said the lifetime ban imposed by the British Olympic Association ban was unforceable.

“I’ve heard for far too many years the initial response that the primary concern is for the athlete,” Coe responded. “Actually it’s not. The primary concern is the well-being of the sport. If you don’t do that, the athletes can go home. We’re protecting 99 percent of athletes who chose to do this (athletics) for the right reasons,” he said.