Dwain Chambers happy to play the villain

Mar 13 2009 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

Every penny earned on the track goes to the IAAF until he repays his tainted earnings (he reportedly has £120,000 to go). Then he must settle with UK Athletics.

So ill-fated spells as an American footballer, a rugby league player and reality television contestant came out of necessity.

What he wants to be now is an anti-hero to the next generation targeted by drug peddlers.

“There was a lot of stuff I wanted to write about but couldn’t,” Chambers reflects. “There were 35 pages we had to take out. I hope it can be a reference point. A lot of people will have seen my situation and will want to know why it took place and how.

“There are a lot of regrets because ultimately it’s put me in a position where I’m having to carry the sport through the dark side to get to the light. But it’s been an educational experience. As sportsmen and women, you have to be smart about what you do. I can help deter others from going down the same route.

“Bans are essential. Otherwise people will think it is OK to do it and get away with it. That was my error. But when an athlete is punished, he should be taken on board and information should be used to improve the drug-testing programme. Also, they need to go into schools and educate kids.

“I’m unique in that I can supply that information to the youth of the future. That’s what I do.

“I think it’s important. We’re put out in the media as bad people but we all make mistakes. We all learn from it. I’m a father, and there’s other men and women who have kids involved in sport. If we’re not trying to change things, things will get worse.”

While Britain treats Chambers like something it stood in by accident, Christine Ohuruogu received a one-year ban for missing dope tests (in athletics, missing three is no different to failing one), then won the country’s only track and field gold at the Beijing Olympics. Does Chambers feel bitter at being the scapegoat?

“I did,” he admits. “But that saga is gone. Every situation is dealt with differently.

“And my situation has been dealt with differently to anybody else’s. I’m sure we will all learn from this and maybe in the future the situation can be dealt with more appropriately but it may never need to be if they use my experience properly.

“As much as I want to be (at the Olympics), it’s never going to materialise. I just want to compete for the next few years and have fun. It’s solely athletics now. I’ve had my fun.

“I did get criticism, yeah (his Hamburg Sea Devils American football coach said he could not catch, and the rugby league reviews were little better), but come on – I was taking up a new sport.

“But there’s no hard luck, I was still able to come out and compete in my sport, which I love. I’m committed to it.”