In a surprise move, lawyers representing the American-based shot putter have written to the British Olympic Association (BOA) declaring that they intend to try to get the by-law that prevents any athlete who has served a doping-related suspension from representing Britain in the Olympics lifted so he can compete in Beijing and London.

 

It had been widely believed that disgraced sprinter Dwain Chambers would be the first British athlete to try to get the ban overturned in the courts.

 

But Myerscough is being represented by Nick Collins, the lawyer who has been working on the behalf of Chambers.

 

It is generally believed that Myerscough's case is easier legally because having been given a two-year ban in 1999 after testing positive for a cocktail of anabolic steroids, he has already appealed to the BOA against the ban in 2004, when he was supported by UK Athletics, but lost.

 

Chambers has still to appeal to the BOA against his ban.

 

Myerscough ruled out taking legal action in 2004 because he said he could not afford it.

 

Legal experts have estimated that a successful appeal in the High Court could cost up at least to £250,000, a figure that could be at least doubled if the athlete were to lose and the BOA claims back its costs.

 

Colin Moynihan, the chairman of the BOA, confirmed that they have been contacted by representatives of Myerscough, 28.

 

He said: "We have received a letter from Carl Myerscough's lawyers stating the intention to issue proceedings.

 

"We will vigorously defend any case that comes to us."

 

Unlike Chambers, Myerscough has never admitted his guilt and claimed that he was the victim of a conspiracy when he tested positive.

 

Since returning from his suspension in 2002, Myerscough has broken Geoff Capes' long-standing indoor and outdoor British records and has a personal best of 21.92 metres.

 

At 6ft 10in and weighing just under 24 stone, the thrower nicknamed the "Blackpool Tower" has all the attributes to be a major threat at world level but has consistently under-performed at major championships.

 

"He always loses the most important battle at a major championships - the one with the mind," Sebastian Coe, the chairman of London 2012, wrote after one disappointing performance by Myerscough, whose best performance was a bronze medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.

 

Myerscough is not the only convicted drugs cheat in his family.

 

His wife, Melissa Price, tested positive for tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) in 2003 after winning the American Championships and was banned for two years.

 

THG was the designer steroid distributed by the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative and the same one that Chambers tested positive for.

 

Llike Myerscough, Price has always claimed she was innocent.