Merritt may take legal action in bid to run

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.