Britain's top sprinter Dwain Chambers faces a double trial in his bid to compete in next month's Olympic Games in Beijing.
He is seeking a High Court order next Wednesday to lift a lifetime ban on competing in Olympic events imposed by the British Olympic Association (BOA) because he once used performance-enhancing drugs.
But before that he must take first or second place in the 100m at the Olympic athletics trials in Birmingham at the weekend to be eligible to be chosen for the British team.
There was a brief hearing at the High Court when the date was set for the application for an injunction which would suspend the BOA by-law until the hearing of a full trial on the issue next March.
Asked outside the court about his chances, Chambers said: "I am confident about what I am capable of doing and the rest is up to the decision of the court - and I will abide by that decision."
He said he did find the court appearance a strain but said it would not affect his performance at the athletics trials.
"I will be fine," he said.
Lord Moynihan, chairman of the BOA, who was a sports minister during the Thatcher years, said outside court that he welcomed the chance to put the BOA's case before the courts.
It will be a test of the by-law that bans those who have used performance-enhancing drugs from the British team unless there are mitigating circumstances.
Chambers, 30, knew that having served a two-year suspension for using the designer steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), there was no chance of pursuing the mitigating circumstances route through the BOA.
