Glyn Davies discusses what was probably the sporting topic of the weekend when he gives his views on the possible selection of Dwain Chambers for the Great Britain Olympics team. Glyn’s view, which is shared by many in the Athletics community not to mention the general public, is that Dwain Chambers is a drug cheat. He cheated the system and should never be allowed to race for Britain again.
Ultimately Dwain Chambers’ actions affected not only him but many others. Directly Marlon Devonish, Jason Garderner and Darren Cambell lost their World Championship 100m relay Silver Medals as Chambers was part of the team. The same actions cost Welsh star Christian Malcolm his Gold medal at the 2002 European Championships. Indirectly Chambers’ actions have also hurt promising talent that have missed out on future sponsorship and grants taken by Chambers.
What concerns me is the way we villanize and worship our sporting stars. Chambers whilst being a very good athlete has never won a major individual championship. Had he done so would he really be villanized in the same way? Linford Christie is one of Britain’s greatest and most well liked sport stars. With Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth Gold’s he is also one of the most accomplished. Yet in 1999 Christie was handed a drugs ban for testing positive for Nandralone. Is it because Christie is a winner that we forget that detail?
Whilst BBC pundits such as Steve Cram denounced the selection of Chambers on the weekend the network is running adverts featuring World 400m Champion and Beijing medal hopeful Christine Ohuruogu as the main focus. She is even appearing on a children’s TV show for CBBC encouraging athletics and fair play. No mention is made of the year suspension she received for missing three separate drug tests. Is it ok to be a drug cheat if you are not caught? Surely the ban for missing tests should be greater than testing positive otherwise where is the encouragement to be tested?
I am not sure if I am in the camp supporting the decision to brand Dwain Chambers a cheat and never allow him to compete at the Olympics again, or if I feel that he should be given a second chance to use his experience to show how you can achieve at the highest level without drugs. Almost an ambassador for the boy that came good. One thing for sure is that Dwain deserves at least a bit of parity in the way he is portrayed.
Ultimately Dwain Chambers’ actions affected not only him but many others. Directly Marlon Devonish, Jason Garderner and Darren Cambell lost their World Championship 100m relay Silver Medals as Chambers was part of the team. The same actions cost Welsh star Christian Malcolm his Gold medal at the 2002 European Championships. Indirectly Chambers’ actions have also hurt promising talent that have missed out on future sponsorship and grants taken by Chambers.
What concerns me is the way we villanize and worship our sporting stars. Chambers whilst being a very good athlete has never won a major individual championship. Had he done so would he really be villanized in the same way? Linford Christie is one of Britain’s greatest and most well liked sport stars. With Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth Gold’s he is also one of the most accomplished. Yet in 1999 Christie was handed a drugs ban for testing positive for Nandralone. Is it because Christie is a winner that we forget that detail?
Whilst BBC pundits such as Steve Cram denounced the selection of Chambers on the weekend the network is running adverts featuring World 400m Champion and Beijing medal hopeful Christine Ohuruogu as the main focus. She is even appearing on a children’s TV show for CBBC encouraging athletics and fair play. No mention is made of the year suspension she received for missing three separate drug tests. Is it ok to be a drug cheat if you are not caught? Surely the ban for missing tests should be greater than testing positive otherwise where is the encouragement to be tested?
I am not sure if I am in the camp supporting the decision to brand Dwain Chambers a cheat and never allow him to compete at the Olympics again, or if I feel that he should be given a second chance to use his experience to show how you can achieve at the highest level without drugs. Almost an ambassador for the boy that came good. One thing for sure is that Dwain deserves at least a bit of parity in the way he is portrayed.
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