SALVO, North Carolina, (Reuters) – Disgraced Olympic and world 400 metres champion LaShawn Merritt may take legal action if USA Track & Field (USATF) does not allow him to compete in this year’s world championships, his lawyer said yesterday.
Merritt’s 21-month doping suspension is scheduled to end on July 27, a month ahead of the world championships in Daegu, South Korea, but a month after the U.S. trials in Eugene, Oregon.
As the reigning world champion, Merritt would normally be an automatic qualifier for the world championships with the U.S. trials determining the other three American 400 metres competitors.
However, a USATF bylaw requires all athletes to compete in the U.S. world championship trials to be considered for the American team.
“Should USATF violate the binding arbitration (in Merritt’s doping case) … and attempt to preclude LaShawn Merritt from competing at the 2011 world championships, the matter would then unfortunately have to be resolved through the legal system,” Howard Jacobs, Merritt’s lawyer, said in an email to Reuters.
