Drugs past casts a shadow over win

THE SAD part in the already twisted story of Dwain Chambers (below) is that he appears to be running better now he’s off the drugs – at least if you believe that much is actually true. Yesterday, in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Turin Oval, Chambers claimed the European Indoor 60 metres for Britain, his first major title since returning from his days as a self-confessed steroid junkie.

The 30-year-old won comfortably in 6.46 seconds, short of the 6.42 he ran in the semi-final, although the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction is probably better explained by the Italians Fabio Cerutti and Emanuele Di Gregorio claiming silver and bronze.

Chambers didn’t want to speak about his recent tales of sorry confession, which provide the basis for his autobiography Race Against Me, published today. “It has to come to an end at some point. The more we talk about it the more the sport is going to be tarnished with the past. And if there is going to be a prosperous 2009 then we need to put the past behind us . . . I wanted to run quicker but I just had to concentrate on winning.”

It may yet be his last championship. He is barred from competing in a number of events because of his past doping offences, and has a lifetime ban from the Olympics. An IAAF council meeting in Berlin in a fortnight will also decide whether Chambers has embarrassed the sport enough to warrant a disrepute charge, and impose what would effectively be a ban from athletics.

A high-ranking IAAF member has admitted the world governing body had been a little hasty in allowing Chambers to continue competing while still owing them $200,000 (€157,953) from previous winnings when he was taking performance-enhancing substances. So far, Chambers has paid back around $30,000 (€23,693) but with current European promoters and those of next year’s new Diamond League insisting the sprinter will not be invited to lucrative events, he has little chance of recuperating the debt through athletics.

The lawyers will also be busy poring over his autobiography after Chambers launched a series of attacks on leading sporting figures, including Olympic 400 metres champion Christine Ohuruogu, London 2012 chairman Lord Coe and the British Olympic chairman, Lord Moynihan.