Dwain Chambers' High Court crusade today prevented the British Olympic Association from naming more than one of the three 100 metres sprinters they intend to send to the Beijing Games.
The former drugs cheat was unsurprisingly omitted from the list of 47 track and field athletes whose Olympic places were confirmed by the BOA this afternoon.
But UK Athletics will be forced to pick him if a judge grants an injunction against his lifetime Olympic ban at a hearing in London on Thursday.
He would then line up alongside Simeon Williamson, who was selected today after finishing second behind Chambers at the Aviva National Championships title in Birmingham on Saturday.
That victory would normally have guaranteed Chambers' selection for the Olympics.
But the 30-year-old is currently banned from representing Great Britain at future Games after testing positive for the steroid tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) almost five years ago.
Despite the uncertainty surrounding Chambers' case, the BOA could have named two of their 100m athletes instead of just one.
But that would have risked needlessly upsetting one of Craig Pickering, Tyrone Edgar or Harry Aikines-Aryeetey, who are the leading three candidates to join Williamson on the team.
UKA performance director Dave Collins was keen to play down the impact the Chambers issue was having on selection, insisting Britain's sprinters were being given extra time to stake a claim for selection before this weekend's final deadline.
Collins said: "What we've done is what we've actually done in previous years and what we've done in a number of other events.
"The men's 100m, the women's 100m, the women's 800m, for example, we've got so much talent, we want to give them every chance.
"What we've done is to go for the athlete who is eligible and has made a clear case for selection - and that's Simeon.
Collins was also keen to stress that were Chambers to win Thursday's case, he would not be made to feel a pariah on the team.
"If he's on the team, my board and my chair are already on record as saying he will be treated the same as any other athlete," Collins said. "People don't get on with each other for a variety of reasons but we're part of the same team, we're part of Team GB.
"We're going to support each other to get the best medal haul we possibly can."
As the country's fastest sprinter, Chambers could also expect to be an automatic selection for Britain's defence of their 4x100m relay title.
But although Collins accepted the rules meant he would have to be in the squad, he claimed there was no guarantee of a place in the final four.
"If he's eligible and he's elected, he would obviously have been named in the relay," Collins said. "It doesn't mean he has to run.
"The important thing to recognise about the relay is how many different factors there are. Not wishing to be disrespectful to our four guys in Athens but, clearly, the fastest four men did not win the gold medal there.
"That's what makes the relay particularly interesting."
BOA chef de mission Simon Clegg refused to be drawn on implications of the Chambers appeal, saying: "We will have this injunction hearing and we'll consider our position from the results of that."
The hearing was due to be held on Wednesday, but it was put back 24 hours at the BOA's request in order to allow their chairman, Lord Moynihan, to attend.