AFTER finishing fourth in the 100m at the Olympic trials in Birmingham eight days ago, Tyrone Edgar knew his place in the individual event in Beijing would be as much in the hands of Dwain Chambers as the selectors. Yesterday afternoon, he was put out of his misery.

Edgar, 26, the North London sprinter who is based in Los Angeles, was chosen for the 100m at next month’s Olympic Games, along with Craig Pickering, the pair gaining from the High Court ruling preventing Chambers making the team.

With the fastest run by a Briton this year, Chambers had won the trials in 10.00sec. He had achieved all the criteria needed for the Games, except the outcome of his bid for a temporary injunction against the British Olympic Association’s (BOA) bylaw preventing athletes who have committed a serious drugs offence from representing the team.

Chambers last night broke his silence to say he was a victim of his own honesty. “My honesty is what’s come to bite me, preventing me from going any further,” he said. “To me that’s sad, but the rules are the rules and I failed to abide by them. I’m obviously looking for a second chance, but we don’t get second chances and I’ve got to suffer the consequences of that.”

Chambers also signalled his intentions to compete for an Olympic berth in 2012. “I just want to compete. I’m here to run and I just want to do the best I can and show what I really can do as a clean athlete,” Chambers said. “Participation \ first and foremost is a key thing for me.”

UK Athletics normally name the first three from the 100m at the trials which would have probably meant Edgar missing out. His relief was immense yesterday as Pickering, who was third in the trials, and him joined Simeon Williamson, who was second in Birmingham and had been chosen in the first wave of names.

Equally, Edgar was delighted that the Chambers case was over. “This has been one of the strangest weeks of my life and I don’t ever want another one like it,” said Edgar. “I would have preferred a smoother ride, but it has been a roller-coaster. Athletics is like that, you get the ups and downs.

“I was really disappointed at the trials, but I remained hopeful throughout the week that I would get selected for the individual 100m. Now I have a big smile on my face, the Olympics is the biggest sporting event in the world and I am really excited to be part of it.

“I am just thankful the court case is over and grateful for the opportunity. I have been getting a bit irritated with all the questions about it.”

Steph Twell, 18, the outstanding middle-distance runner who last Sunday won the 1500m at the world junior championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland, has been rewarded with a place in the Olympic team.

On Friday night, Twell ran a personal best of 4min 5.83sec at the Golden League in Paris to dip inside the Olympic qualifying mark for the second time and one of the leading hopes for London 2012 was standing by the Eiffel Tower when she received the news.

She said: “It took my breath away just to hear the words. It was so special, something that I will cherish forever.”

In a team of 68, Donna Fraser, who has been selected in the 4x400m relay, has reached her fourth successive Olympics, but it is quite a debut for Alex and Ashlee Nelson. They become the first brother and sister to represent Britain in track and field at the Olympics since Ian and Mary Stewart in Montreal in 1976. Alex, 20, runs in the 200m and Ashlee, 17, has been named in the 4x100m relay squad.

The BOA will advise and support other countries who want to impose a lifetime ban from the Olympics for competitors found to have tested positive for serious drug offences. The association believes there will be a new determination in the attitude of sports authorities towards penalties for doping.

Lord Moynihan, the BOA chairman, said yesterday: “We are not intending to campaign for a wider application of the bylaw by other national Olympic committees, but we will help others who ask us. We will do that as part of the Olympic family.” Only Denmark and China have a similar rule. Moynihan believes that the BOA’s victory may “add to the resolve” for others to follow suit.

Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, welcomed the judge’s ruling. He said: “It provides clarity and confirms that cheaters do not have their place at the Olympic Games.”

The IOC recently introduced a regulation that any competitor found guilty of a serious doping offence would be barred from competing in the Olympics even after the expiry of a two-year ban. This took effect from July 1, but as it is not retrospective, the regulation would not have affected Chambers, whose suspension for taking the designer anabolic steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) ended in August 2005.

Last night Rogge and Moynihan attended a dinner in London to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the International Swimming Federation, at which the subject of tougher action against drug cheats was expected to be discussed. Moynihan said: “The IOC has now made a major move in the direction of the BOA, the World Anti-Doping Agency has toughened up its position and with the High Court decision, I think the tide has turned in our direction.”

Denise Lewis, the 2000 Olympic heptathlon champion, added her support, saying: “The British bylaw should be adopted across the world so that everybody understands clearly that if any athlete tests positive for drugs, they should forfeit any right to represent their country in any future Olympic Games.Our athletes will be delighted with this decision.”

Moynihan said that one task of the BOA’s anti-doping commission, which is due to deliver its report next year, is to keep the bylaw under review and this commission will consider the views of the athletes when they are polled after the Beijing Games. The bylaw was introduced in 1992 after a request from athletes for a lifetime suspension from the Games for a serious drugs offence to the BOA. In the most recent survey of competitors, conducted by the British Athletes’ Commission, an independent body, 90% of those taking part in the Athens Games and 96% of those in the 2006 Winter Olympics wanted the bylaw to be retained.