The Australian Olympic Committee has mounted a legal challenge to enable a four-man bobsleigh team to compete at the Winter Games in Torino.

The AOC is arguing the Brazilian four-man bobsleigh team should be excluded from Olympic competition after one of their athletes returned a positive drug test.

The case should be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Torino at 10am on 19 February (Sunday) as the bobsledders are due to race next week.

In a submission to CAS, the AOC claims Brazilian Armando dos Santos tested positive for the steroid Nandralone on or about January 3rd 2006.

Two weeks later the Brazilian 4-man bobsleigh team, including dos Santos, won the Challenge Cup and qualified for the Olympics. New Zealand was second and Australia third. The first two nations qualified for Torino.

The AOC will argue the Challenge Cup result should not stand because dos Santos had already tested positive. The AOC will argue the Brazilian team is ineligible to compete at the Olympics and the entire 4-man Brazilian team should be replaced by a team from Australia.

The Brazilian Olympic Committee has dropped dos Santos from their squad and replaced him with Claudinei Quirino who won a silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the Sydney Olympics in 2000.

The AOC application calls on the International Bobsleigh Federation (FIBT) and the Brazilian Bobsleigh Association to appear before the CAS.

AOC