Dwain Chambers lost his High Court bid to be allowed to compete at next month's Olympic Games in Beijing on Friday.

Mr Justice Mackay refused to grant an injunction temporarily suspending a lifetime Olympic ban imposed on the self-confessed drugs cheat by the British Olympic Association under a bylaw.

But Mr Justice Mackay told a packed courtroom:

"Many people both inside and outside sport would see this bylaw as unlawful.

"In my judgment, it would take a much better case than the claimant has presented to persuade me to overturn the status quo at this stage and compel his selection for the Games."

During a hearing yesterday, the judge had commented to Jonathan Crystal, representing Chambers: "The reality is that you are saying 'put him on the plane'."

Mr Crystal, an expert in sports law, had told the judge: "He represents our best chance of a podium finish in the 100 metres in Beijing."

Chambers, 30, served a two-year suspension for using the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) after testing positive in 2003.

Mr Crystal said the BOA bylaw was unfair, contrary to competition law and an unreasonable restraint on trade.

Chambers had already qualified to compete in the Olympic team after winning the 100 metres at the Olympic athletics trials in Birmingham last Saturday and setting his best time of the year of 10.00 seconds.

David Pannick QC, representing the BOA, told the judge that Chambers "cannot show that sportsmen and women are significantly restrained in their trade by the bylaw which only concerns eligibility for an amateur event, which takes place once every four years and for which there is no prize money".

He added: "If the court were to make an order requiring the claimant to be selected, that would deprive another athlete of his place in the team, even though the legality of the rule may be upheld at a full trial."

As a self-confessed drugs cheat, Chambers was not a good example for Britain's next sports generation and the court should not force the BOA to pick him, Mr Pannick argued.

BOA chairman Lord Colin Moynihan welcomed the ruling.

Speaking outside court, he said: "It's a matter of regret that Dwain Chambers, an athlete with such undoubted talent and a winner of the European Youth Olympic Festival 100metres as a young man, should by his own actions put himself out of the running to shine on the Olympic stage in Beijing.

"However, on behalf of the athletes, the BOA will continue to send a powerful and important message - that nobody found guilty of serious drugs cheating offences should have the honour of wearing the team GB vest at the Olympic Games.

"The court's decision allows us now to focus upon and support those athletes who will be travelling to Beijing to represent Team GB in just 21 days' time. We must now focus on their interests."

Moynihan, speaking to Sky News, later claimed the atmosphere in the British team in Beijing would be more "harmonious" without Chambers.

"We have to be tough against those who are cheating others, the sport, through taking drugs. He knew the rules, he now has to accept the consequences," he said.

"If somebody is left behind and somebody else goes who has knowingly broken the eligibility rules and taken drugs, it isn't going to lead to a harmonious relationship between those athletes during the Games.

"We were very concerned about that."

Chambers posed for pictures on the steps of the Royal Courts of Justice but would not say a word about the ruling.

Claire Furlong, of UK Athletics (UKA), said outside court: "We have always maintained our support for the bylaw and are delighted it has been upheld in this instance.

"We now consider the issue closed and look forward to Beijing and turn all our focus to our final preparations of the athletes who will represent Great Britain."

The decision was welcomed by many in the sporting world.

Former Olympic gold medallist Denise Lewis said: "I think this is a very fair verdict in the circumstances and shows that Dwain now understands that he cannot break the rules just because he thinks it suits him. He knew the rules existed when he broke them.

"It is very sad that this appeal has grabbed so many headlines and I really do think that the British bylaw should be adopted by the IOC and across the world so that everyone understands very clearly that if any athlete tests positive for drugs they forfeit any right to represent their country at any future Olympics."

UKA will name their squad for Beijing, including the sprinters to fill the last two spots for the 100m and also the 4x100m relay, tomorrow.

Then, under International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules, the BOA must name the British squad by Sunday.

DWAIN CHAMBERS FACTFILE

1978: Born Islington, London, April 5.

1994: English Schools intermediates champion at 100m.

1995: Gold in 100m and sprint relay at European Juniors.

1997: Gold in 100m and sprint relay at European Juniors. Won 100m in 10.06, then a world junior record, the first by a British sprinter since Peter Radford in 1958.

1998: Took silver in Europeans and was third in World Cup.

1999: Second to Bruny Surin in Nuremberg in 9.99 seconds, thus becoming the second European sprinter to break the 10-second barrier after Linford Christie.

Ran 9.97 to claim bronze at the World Championships.

2000: Fourth in Olympics final in Sydney.

2002: Bid for 100m gold at the Commonwealth Games starts well with wins in preliminary rounds, but he gets off to a bad start in the final and pulled up with cramps, later attributed to lack of fluids.

Takes the gold medal in a championship best of 9.96 at the Europeans and adds a superb run to bring the British team home for gold in the 4x100m relay.

Reduces his 100m best to 9.94 in Zurich.

With a tailwind on the legal limit of 2.0 m/s, ties Linford Christie's European record of 9.87.

2003: August 25 - Finishes fourth in the World Championships 100m final in Paris in a time of 10.08.

October 22 - Revealed to have tested positive for newly discovered 'designer steroid' tetrahydrogestrinone (THG). Denies knowingly taking the drug.

November 7 - IAAF suspend Chambers pending disciplinary hearing, after B sample tests positive.

2004: February 12 - Chambers' coach Remi Korchemny among four men indicted by a federal grand jury in America on charges of distributing illegal steroids.

February 22 - Handed a two-year worldwide ban due to expire on November 7, 2005 and lifetime suspension from the Olympics action.

2005: November 7 - Ban expires but Chambers has to comply with World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) regulations preventing him from returning to competition until he has undertaken three mandatory tests.

December 10 - Admits using THG for 18 months before failing his drug test including when he became double European champion in August 2002.

2006: June 9 - IAAF accept offer from Chambers to reimburse them with the appearance fees and prize money he won during the period he was using THG.

June 10 - Cleared by UK Athletics to make comeback.

June 11 - Returns to action at Gateshead, finishing third in 10.07 as Asafa Powell equalled his own world record of 9.77. His time is the fastest by a European in 2006.

June 26 - All performances since January 1, 2002 annulled including individual and relay gold at the European Championships in Munich in 2002 and the European record of 9.87 he shared with Linford Christie after his admission to using THG prior to his failed drugs test.

August - Selected to represent Great Britain at the European Championships in Gothenburg.

Finishes seventh in the individual event before joining Mark Lewis-Francis, Darren Campbell and Marlon Devonish in the 4x100m sprint relay squad. The quartet won gold but their achievement was overshadowed by Campbell's refusal to celebrate on a lap of honour with his team-mates, saying it would be "hypocritical".

2007: March - Secured a contract with NFL Europa side Hamburg Sea Devils after completing a national training camp in Tampa, Florida.

2008: January - UK Athletics chief executive officer Niels de Vos claims Chambers will be barred from making a comeback because he has not undergone drug testing since November 2006 when he left the sport. The IAAF claim he is eligible to run because he never retired from athletics.

February 2 - Qualifies for the World Indoor Trials in Sheffield by winning the 60m at the Birmingham Games in 6.60.

February 5 - Chambers allowed to compete in Sheffield after UKA grudgingly accept his entry after the athlete's solicitors prepared to launch a High Court injunction against them.

February 10 - Storms to victory in the 60 metres in Sheffield to book himself a spot in next month's World Indoor Championships in Valencia.

March 7 - Wins a silver medal in the World Indoor Championships.

March 28 - Chambers to visit engage Super League club Castleford for talks about a possible career in rugby league, according to his spokesman Damion Silk.

May 6 - After a month-long trial with Castleford, the club reveal he will not be offered a contract.

June 4 - Wins his first 100m race since August 2006 in Greece.

June 28 - Achieves the Olympic 'A' qualifying standard at a meeting in Biberach, Germany.

June 30 - 200 past and present athletes, including Dame Kelly Holmes and Sir Steven Redgrave, sign a petition against Chambers being picked for the Beijing Games after his lawyers confirm plans for a High Court appeal against the BOA's lifetime Olympics ban.

July 3 - Court proceedings are launched by Chambers' legal team.

July 12 - Wins the 100m at the Aviva UK National Championships, the qualifying event for the British Olympic team.

July 18 - Chambers' attempt to gain a temporary injunction against the BOA ban is rejected at the High Court to end hopes of competing in Beijing

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