(Updates February’s entry when Chambers was trying to represent Britain at the world indoor championships)

Dwain Chambers’ lawyers have asked a London court to outlaw the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) policy of lifetime bans for drugs cheats.

Chambers, who served a two-year ban for steroid use, says he wants to compete in Beijing and has easily achieved the BOA’s qualifying standard. His lawyers call the BOA ban an unreasonable restraint of trade.

Trials take place in Birmingham over the weekend of July 11-13 and Chambers, who ran 10.05 seconds in Sofia in June, is favourite to win the 100 metres, a victory that would normally guarantee Olympic selection.

He says he’s paid his debt and told the Sun in February: “I’m being made to feel like a leper. A terrible stigma has been attached to me but people need to know I’m clean.”

What do you think? Should there be any way back for him?

Serena Williams glides across the ice rink. Ana Ivanovic leaps to the net in beach volleyball.

Roger Federer poses as a fencer. Rafael Nadal fulfils his boyhood dream as a soccer player.

To celebrate 20 years at the modern Olympics, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) persuaded 40 of the world’s top players to dress up as athletes from other sports.

The result, launched at Wimbledon this week, made for some intriguing choices in a glossy coffee table book “Journey to Beijing: Tennis Celebrates the Olympics.”

 As befits a truly international sport, the photo shoots spanned the globe.

Chile’s Olympic champions Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzales became marathon runners on the streets of Santiago. Maria Sharapova tried rhythmic gymnastics in Los Angeles while Serena Williams went ice skating at her local rink in Palm
Beach, Florida.

Sharapova recalled dressing up as a child in the team’s white beret and marching beside the television as the Russian team appeared at the opening ceremony.

Nadal, glued to the television as a six-year-old, will never forget Fremin Cacho winning the 1500 metres in Barcelona. “The last few metres were unbelievable,” he recalled.
While playing at The Masters in Shanghai, Nadal snatched a few quick minutes to pose as a footballer playing in the streets down a back alley.

He was the first player to commit to the book and others swiftly followed.

ITF spokesman Nick Imison told Reuters at the launch “Every one of the men players wanted to be a footballer.”

“For the modern-day player, the Olympics is a real career goal,” Imison said of the top-ranked players who now need much less persuading to appear at the Games.

The millionaire players, who jet round the world leading a cocooned lifestyle from one five-star hotel to another, rave in the book about the joys of mingling with other athletes in the Olympic village.

But Serena Williams did admit that she and her sister Venus could not stay in the Sydney Olympics village too long in 2000 because “It was crazy …  Everyone came over and overcrowded us. There’s a lot of excitement.”

Federer can perhaps lay claim to the fondest of Olympic memories — he met his long-time girlfriend and manager Mirka Vavrinec at the Sydney Olympics.

Little wonder that the Swiss champion, who happily signed autographs for three hours at the opening ceremony, said of the Games “I loved every minute of it.”

The over-60s will be able to take a dip at their local council pool for free across England from next year under government plans announced on Friday.

The scheme is costing 140 million pounds over two years, although part of the money will also be available for lifting admission costs for children under-16 and for maintainance work on ageing facilities. A similar scheme is already operating in Wales.

It’s all part of the government’s plan to get 2 million people off their couches ahead of the opening of the Olympic Games in London in July 2012.

Critics say it’s too little too late as Britain heads for an obesity crisis, with the government struggling to meet its target of reducing the proportion of overweight and obese children to 2000 levels by 2020.

What do you think? Is free swimming a good idea? Or just another unnecessary burden on the taxpayer?

Australian athletes have asked the Chinese authorities to allow them permits so they can take, what some might say, is their secret weapon for success at this year’s summer Oympics - Vegemite.

With just under 100 days to go until the August games, a directive that the Australian Olympic team must source all food supplies within China has been dubbed the “vegemite ban” by local media.

This little issue got me thinking — is Australia’s national spread, a dark, savory paste made from yeast extract, that good that we need it to help our athletes with Olympic Gold? Would the British government ask for a similar directive for the English equivalent, Marmite?

As the resident antipodean in the London office, I thought such a directive from the Australian Olympic Commitee was right. But my arguments however, that Vegemite was light years ahead of Marmite was met with howls of protest. My Pom mates also disagreed with my thoughts on their sacred spread.

So the question remains, who is right? Which is better? Is it the case that the two are that different or it is a battleground of Ashes’ proportions?