Lombard after his shock win at the Irish Cross Country Championship

The Olympic Council of Ireland will take legal advice on its options concerning Cathal Lombard's possible qualification for the Beijing Games.

Self-confessed drugs cheat Lombard claimed a shock win in Saturday's Irish Cross Country Championships in Belfast.

A time below two hours, 15 minutes at next month's Rotterdam Marathon would put Lombard in the frame for Beijing.

OCI spokesman Jack McGouran said the body would take "high-level legal consultations straight away".

As is the case with the vast majority of national Olympic associations, the Irish federation does not have a lifetime Olympic ban for athletes who have failed drugs tests.

This is in contrast to British Olympic Association rules which currently bar the likes of Dwain Chambers from competing in the Games.

The OCI official acknowledged that the Irish Olympic federation had been surprised by Lombard's re-emergence at the weekend.

Lombard was handed a two-year ban on the eve of the 2004 Athens Olympics after using the banned drug EPO and little was subsequently heard about the Corkman prior to his win on Saturday.

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"It's an issue we didn't expect to arise. We weren't getting any indication from Athletics Ireland that the athlete (Lombard) was in the frame for selection. We do consult a lot with Athletics Ireland on these things to see who is coming through."

Lombard's victory at the Queen's Playing Fields meant that Athletics Ireland offered the Leevale athlete an automatic berth at the World Cross Country Championships in Edinburgh later this month, but he turned down the place.

For Lombard to be considered for Beijing, he would have to be nominated by Athletics Ireland after achieving an A standard.

However, just as the case with any athlete, the OCI has the final say on selection although it would be highly usual for the Irish Olympic body to not select a track and field athlete who has achieved an A standard.

New rules ahead of the Beijing Games give the OCI the right to de-select athletes who have lost form or who are badly affected by injury.

However, McGouran acknowledged that OCI rules "don't really cover" the issue surrounding Lombard's possible qualification for this year's Olympics.

"If he gets the A standard, it would be very difficult for Athletics Ireland to not (nominate him) because he could sue them and there is a legal thing hanging over all of this.

It's a debate that we could have done without Athletics Ireland's Patsy McGonagle

"It's a very grey area so that's why we will be taking high-level legal consultations on this one and we will be doing that straight away.

"It wasn't on the horizon in our last discussions with the AAI but we might as well address it now because it will be an issue that will develop in the future."

McGouran insisted that there would be "no pre-conceptions" about the issue in advance of the OCI getting its legal advice.

However, he acknowledged that high-profile recent drugs scandals have caught the OCI's attention.

"For us and a lot of Olympic federations around Europe, we are all looking at this issue more closely."

Defending Athletics Ireland's decision to offer Lombard a place at the World Cross Country Championships, national team manager Patsy McGonagle said that the Cork man was now in "good standing" with the doping authorities.

"The situation now is that he has served his ban, he has served his time and he now is coming back although he's not going to the World Cross," said McGonagle.

However, McGonagle acknowledged that Lombard's shock re-emergence had created "a debate that we could have done without".

Meanwhile, Lagan Valley's Suzanne McCormick and Finn Valley's Ian Ward have been included in Ireland's team for the World Cross Country Championships on 30 March.

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