It's high time to inject common sense into the Dwain Chambers row

Dwain's gain: Chambers wins the 100 metres at the UK trials in Birmingham and books his World Championship place
13 April 2012

Dwain Chambers, the UK's best sprinter, is a convicted drugs cheat. We all know this. He was banned from athletics in 2003 after testing positive for the banned steroid THG - one of a raft of seven performance-enhancing substances that helped his body repair, recover and grow much faster than other athletes. He also received a lifetime Olympic ban.

Chambers is now 33. He is coming towards the end of a career, which - if he had stayed clean - could have culminated in an appearance in a London 2012 final alongside Usain Bolt et al. Instead, he ends his career as a pariah: racing in those few spots that will still have him as if he had lepers' bells on his heels.

Chambers was allowed back into competition in 2006 but since then he has been treated like the dirty old paedo of the athletics circuit. He has done his time but everywhere he goes he is regarded with a mixture of hatred and suspicion.

It is a wretched situation. And while you can argue that Chambers brought much of it on himself when he decided to juice himself up to the hindquarters on muscle gak, his treatment at the hands of the regulatory authorities has nevertheless been shabby.

Last Saturday, Chambers won his fifth UK 100m title at the Aviva National Championships in Birmingham. He ran 10.09sec - some way short of his drugs-enhanced best of 9.87s, but the best on the night nonetheless. The run earned him a place in the World Championships in South Korea, where he will represent Great Britain.

His Olympic ban still stands but, as a second-best, a World Championship medal would prove to be some form of redemption for a man who learned his lesson the toughest way possible.

Unfortunately, that's not the way UK Athletics see it.

Chambers ought to be running this weekend at the Diamond League meet in Crystal Palace - which would be valuable preparation for the Worlds. He was cleared to run last year by Euro Meetings, who regulate the Diamond League. But UKA refuse to sanction athletes whom they deem would damage the integrity of the competition. So Chambers is out, excluded by a ruling that judges who he is, not what he did.

What a mess.

Compare Chambers to another drugs cheat: LaShawn Merritt - the Olympic and world 400m champion. Merritt - like many other convicted druggers, including Steve Mullings and Brazilian long-jumper Maurren Maggi - is competing again in the Diamond League this season.

Merritt tested positive in 2009/10 for a steroid that he says he ingested in a penis-enhancement product. (Don't snigger - we've all considered it.)

He was banned for two years but that was reduced to 21 months on appeal. And rather than being ostracised by his country, he is being supported by the US Olympic Committee as he attempts to overturn his Olympic ban at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

How's that for double standards? While athletes like Merritt who fail drugs tests do their time and are accepted back - albeit slightly warily - into the fold, Chambers continues to be slammed for mistakes he made nearly a decade ago. There is a qualitative difference, of course, between Chambers and Merritt - assuming you believe Merritt's excuse is a cock and bull story only in the most literal sense.

Chambers took drugs deliberately, to run faster. Merritt took drugs because he wanted a bigger whang: which if anything should ruin the aerodynamics of a sprinter and slow him down. One is a premeditated crime. The other is a crime of omission and stupidity. The principles of justice will always draw a line between them.

Nevertheless, worse as his crime was, Chambers has been punished and served his sentence.
He doesn't deserve to be humiliated and shunned any further. Taking drugs to win at sport is not fair - it's a shitty thing to do. But if you want to ban someone for life, then ban them for life. Don't go off half-cocked with the sentence, then keep a guy in jankers in aeternitas.

If you don't think two years is a sufficient ban for drug-taking, then raise the tariff. What we have at the moment is the worst of all worlds - where a man who did a bad thing and served his time continues to be punished for it, over and over again. That's not fair, either.

Shame to see Rory leave us so soon

S0 Rory McIlroy is offski. He'll play a 'full schedule' on the US PGA tour next year, effectively meaning that he's quitting Europe for the States.

Last year McIlroy said the strain of the US tour was too much. But the difference in his performances, and demeanour, between this year's US Open and British Open suggest he's making the right choice.

The courses, and the softer media spotlight of the US tour, will suit him better. But it's still a shame to see him go.

Rugby traditions are Manu from heaven

Manu Tuilagi starts for England against Wales tomorrow, completing his rehabilitation for trying to punch Chris Ashton's head off. It shocked some seasoned rugby followers. (Others, knowing Ashton's habit of winding up opponents, were less surprised.) Tualagi served his ban and it's forgotten. That's rugby. Now think what would happen if, say, Liverpool's Andy Carroll had done the same thing.

Let's hope it's a Ray of light for Roberto

It's great to see Roberto di Matteo back at Chelsea among Andre Villas-Boas's coaching staff. It's a brave move in every way. He is stepping down from manager to assistant and coming back to a club where happy memories - such as that wonderful goal in the 1997 FA Cup final - are darkened by the grim cloud of a career-ending injury. I hope he succeeds at a club where he is a hero. You wouldn't wish the Ray Wilkins experience on anyone.

Djoko knows how to enjoy the laughs

Novak Djokovic appeared on Jay Leno's American chat show this week. He gave a brilliant demonstration of Serbian folk dancing, in which he was joined by Leno, Katie Holmes and six dancers. Djokovic dances a bit like a sexy hen but he put the moves on Leno, who looked like he might have a heart attack. It's worth seeing on YouTube. Once you've seen it, you'll struggle not to root for Djoko in the US Open.

Follow me on Twitter @dgjones

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