Dwain Chambers comeback: Veteran sprinter sparks age-old doping debate with British Indoor Championship return
“I’m good at it, I enjoy it. I get joy from the reaction to it all, I love the crowd cheering my name. If you enjoy that, why walk away from it?”
That’s how a 36-year-old Dwain Chambers explained his decision to continue competing ahead of the 2014 European Championships.
Five years later and two months shy of his 41st birthday, Chambers is back again, coming out of retirement to race the 60m at the British Indoor Championships in Birmingham this weekend.
If his age doesn’t make the comeback remarkable enough then Chambers’s history in athletics certainly does. The Londoner is one of Britain’s best ever sprinters, having won European 60m gold, European 100m silver and world 100m bronze medals.
But despite a successful 15-year career his legacy remains defined by a two-year ban he served between 2004 and 2006 after testing positive for steroids.
Comeback on
Chambers has not competed for Britain since the 2014 European Championships, but if he finishes in the top two and runs a time of 6.60 seconds against the likes of Richard Kilty and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake this weekend he could qualify for the British team at next month’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Considering that he still holds the 60m British record, set 20 years ago, clocked a time of 6.70 seconds at Lee Valley last month in his first race in a year, and many of Britain’s sprinters have opted against competing, Chambers’s second comeback could well be on.
To some this news will be unwelcome – a continuation of a career which should have been cut short the minute he provided a positive test for tetrahydrogestrinone (THG) 16 years ago.
Walking junkie
In his tell-all memoir Race Against Me, Chambers described himself as a “walking junkie”, carrying around blood-boosting drug EPO and human growth hormone given to him by Victor Conte, the infamous head of the Balco doping ring.
Chambers detailed more than 300 instances of drug-taking over an 18-month period in which he ran a now-expunged British 100m record of 9.87 seconds. Once caught, he says he felt a feeling of relief.
“I could not carry on my career lying to people,” he told the Tackling Doping In Sport conference in 2008. “That’s why I felt compelled to tell the truth.”
Chambers apologised “for the pain and distress I’ve caused the sport” and signed an agreement with the International Association of Athletics Federations to pay back all of the $170,000 he earned during the period that he was taking drugs.
Penance
As part of his penance, he was forced to sell his house and car. Excluded from European grand prix meetings until 2011, he unsuccessfully explored opportunities in American football and rugby league.
He felt unfairly treated. He’d admitted his wrongs and served his time but was shunned, with the British Olympic Association attempting – ultimately in vain – to impose a lifetime ban on the sprinter. “Murderers are reinstated back into life,” he told the Guardian in 2009. “You know, I didn’t kill anybody.”
Chambers didn’t accept his fate; he fought it, and he kept running. Despite the shadow he cast, he enjoyed considerable success, winning three world and two European medals before eventually calling it a day in August 2017.
Love of competing
Having spent much of his time since then coaching and educating children on the perils of drugs, he has decided to return to the track. The obvious question is: why?
Putting on spikes again is bound to dredge up the past and ignite the same old debates. But while many accusations can – and have – been levelled at Chambers, his enduring love of competing and ambition to rebuild his image are undeniable.
Six months into his two-year ban back in 2004, Chambers put to one side his negative thoughts and started training again. “I just wanted to prove something to myself really,” he explained.
It seems that 15 years later, despite all that he’s been through, that same curiosity and drive to compete remains.