Dwain Chambers- Should he have been picked for Team G.B.?

The London 2012 Olympic Games in London bought out the best, not only in athletes from around the world, but especially athletes from the Great Britain team. Unfortunately, there is one exception from the illustrious list, Dwain Chambers.

A statement made by UK athletics said “It is extremely frustrating to leave young athletes at home – eligible for Beijing, in possession of the qualifying standard and committed to ongoing participation in a drug-free sport. In contrast, we have to take an individual whose sudden return, especially when considered against his previous actions and comments, suggests that he may be using the whole process for his own ends.”

UK Athletics Performance director, Dave Collins also said “There is a strong feeling among the committee that we would like to see greater penalties for drug cheats. That’s obviously something that will need to be addressed after this and going forwards.”

These are the comments made by officials after The British Olympics Association (BOA) overturned the rule of lifetime bans for alleged drugs cheats, in order to choose Chambers for the Great British Olympic team. Chambers was banned in 2003 after testing positive for the performance enhancement drug, THG.

On his return, Chambers ran in the Olympic trials in Birmingham. He won his event in the 100m sprint; however, he was still outside the ‘A’ standard qualification time needed in order to compete in the 2012 Olympics. Another standard requirement needed in order to run in the Olympics was to run in the 100m at the European Championships in Helsinki, which Chambers never participated, in order to rest.

However, by breaking almost every rule in the book, he still competed in the most coveted games to date, finishing in 5^th in his 100m race. Known for being Great Britain ‘fastest’ sprinter, did Chambers deserve to compete in London 2012?