Dwain Chambers could still challenge his lifetime Olympic ban despite this weekend's announcement he is to have a trial with rugby league club Castleford.
The sprinter's Leeds-based solicitor Nick Collins, who will be having further meetings with his client when he visits the struggling Yorkshire side on Monday, has insisted: "At this stage nothing has been ruled out."
Collins is surprised that many people jumped to the conclusion Chambers has quit athletics after his shock announcement.
He added: "I do not understand the comments of these people.
"He's been invited to Castleford for a couple of weeks to train and have a look around and see if he likes the set up.
"During his stay up here, we'll be discussing the merits of of pursuing the appeal."
Collins is delighted at what he believes to be growing support for Chambers to be cleared to race in
Beijing in the summer, although he acknowledges that both realise there are other obstacles to be surmounted if he is to remain a professional athlete.
That was why Chambers went away to consider his options after sharing the World Indoor 60 metres silver medal with Kim Collins at the beginning of the month - when it seemed the door to continuing his track career had been slammed shut.
The Euromeetings consortium recommended to their 51 members after Chambers' superb display in Valencia that he and other competitors who have served doping bans of two years or more since 2003 should be excluded from its events.
If that policy is successfully implemented - although in the past there have always been breakaway meet organisers - Chambers earnings on the lucrative circuit would be badly affected.
Chambers still owes the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) around £100,000, even after the deduction of the £10,000 he earned for his runner-up slot behind Olusoji Fabusa in Valencia.
That has prompted Chambers to look elsewhere and possibly pursue a rugby league career where if he can adapt to the sport, he is expecting to receive an annual salary of £60,000.
Collins reiterated that whatever his final decision, for the moment Chambers is not planning to run away from taking legal action against a British Olympic Association (BOA) by-law which prevents him and other former drug cheats competing in Beijing and at future Games.
The BOA has said it will do everything possible, whatever the financial cost, to fight Chambers' appeal whether he takes it through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) or directly to the High Court.
However there is a massive sway of opinion in the higher echelons of world sport that their 1992 regulation would be overturned under international law.
The BOA is the only national body to implement such a rule and it clearly contradicts the charters of both the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and IAAF.
Former WADA head Richard Pound has already stated his belief that Chambers is eligible to compete at the highest level, having completed his two-year drug suspension after testing positive for the the designer steroid THG in 2003.
When Chambers returned to competition after an abortive American football career at the beginning of the year, UK Athletics (UKA) was overruled by the IAAF after claiming he was ineligible having not undergone sufficient drug tests.
They accepted the world governing body's decision - well aware that Chambers had every intention of taking his case to the High Court.
IAAF president Lamine Diack concurred with Pound's sentiments over Chambers being allowed to run at the World Indoors.
Diack, who has critical of UKA's
handling of the affair, told The Observer: "I could not see how they could say he could not run.
"I did not have a problem with him. Why should I? Even the athletes said they did not have a problem with him.
"We have regulations that I have to follow. Chambers was suspended for two years. After that he was eligible again.
"He was put in Britain's team for the 2006 European Championships. Then he went to play American football but came back. There is no problem with that.
"He had to be allowed to run unless there was new evidence. UK Athletics knew full well they could not prevent him.
"They would have had no chance if it had gone to court. They would have lost."
Even greater support for Chambers came from the European Union's top sports regulator Jan Figel, who is adamant all athletes banned for using performance-enhancing drugs deserve a second chance.
Speaking before a meeting of ministers and International Olympic Committee (IOC) members, Figel said:
"It is important that people get a chance for rehabilitation, showing that they have changed and behaved accordingly.
"This is morally more important than just putting people in a corner or jail and just forgetting about them.
"Sport is an opportunity to show people have changed."
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