Dwain Chambers is back. His win yesterday in the World Indoor trials at Sheffield means the drugs cheat will represent Great Britain again, and UK Athletics, much to its chagrin, cane do nothing about it.
It’s hard to like Chambers. A convicted cheat, he is now trying to tell people that he can be seen as a role model for what can happen when you turn over a new leaf. And yet only last year he told the BBC: “Some people take chances, some don’t, and I was willing to take that chance. I was under the assumption that I wouldn’t get caught.”
What’s clear is that he was prepared to cheat, got caught, and now he’s back. He took a gamble and his return sends a clear message. If you can get away with it, it’s worth the risk; if you get caught, the punishment is light.
As long as the likes of Chambers are prepared to take drugs and cheat fellow athletes, sponsors and the public, then athletics will continue to be tarnished. His presence is an insult, and it makes it hard for anyone to take the moral high ground when anyone else is caught.
And what’s more, how do we know he is clean now? He was willing to take a chance before. Who says he won’t take it again?
