Renowned British coach Frank Dick wants Dwain Chambers to drop his bid to run in next month's Olympic Games.
Dick believes Chambers could do irreparable damage to the UK's anti-doping policy if he wins his appeal against a lifetime ban from the Games in the High Court today.
The sprinter is seeking an injunction against a British Olympic Association byla
w which prevents him from competing due to his past suspension for a doping offence.
If successful, having won the UK 100 metres trial last weekend, he would almost certainly be named in the Great Britain team when final additions are made on Saturday.
Yet Dick believes Chambers's presence in Beijing would send out the wrong message to the next generation of athletes.
He does not object to Chambers, who served a two-year suspension after failing a test for the designer steroid THG in 2003, continuing his career but does not want him at the Olympics.
In an open letter to Chambers, Dick said: "In life, being a champion or hero is not always about hitting the line first or beating an opponent.
"It can be doing the right thing and living the values of a greater cause even when it brings you pain. Some would say, especially when it brings you pain.
"I do not believe it is your wish to damage the sport, so it makes little sense to pursue a course of action which would do so.
"Such gives the press and media headline-grabbing material that lowers the sport in to the mud of drugs and your association with them.
"Rather, the headlines should be those athletes who have perhaps one chance only in their life to enjoy the limelight of being selected for the Olympics and of the Olympic experience itself."
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