Reports have it that Dwain Chambers, Britain’s highest-profile sprinter, was not invited to compete at the opening Golden League meeting in Berlin. More than 50 promoters have banned him from European races because of testing positive in a banned substance. Originally, meeting director Gerhard Janetzky said that he would welcome Chambers to compete in the 100 meters at the meeting on June 14. Later on, he reversed his decision and claims that he did not want to be out of step with Europe’s other leading meetings. Janetzky however told www.insidethegames.com that he will still consider it right to let him start. “You can’t explain to the Berlin stadium crowd why Chambers isn’t allowed to run at the ISTAF but can compete at the worlds,” he added.

At the age of 22, Chambers took the World Championship bronze in 1999. That time, he showed enormous promise as a youngster, winning 100m and sprint relay gold during the 1995 European Juniors and creating a new world junior record after repeating the feat in 1997. He however struggled to fulfill his potential as he came home fourth in a time well outside his personal best during the 2003 Worlds. The same story happened in the 2002 Commonwealth Games where he limped off the track with cramp mid-race. And with the decline in form of Maurice Green, an Olympic champion, there was a gap at the top of world sprinting. But it was Tim Montgomery and not Chambers, who broke Greene’s 100m world record. Chambers was also beaten by Kim Collins, the same man who had beaten him in the Commonwealth gold.

To change his losing streak, Chambers left Mike McFarlane, his long-time coach, and settled with the 73-year-old Remi Korchemny, the same coach who trained Valery Borzoy to Olympic 100m and 200m gold in 1972. He chose Korchemny because Chambers believe that his new coach has the technical expertise to make him the best in the world. But before achieving his dreams, Chambers had subsequently resulted positive for THG. Tetrahydrogentrisnone or better known as THG is a banned steroid which has been tweaked by chemists to make it hard to detect by normal dope tests.

After testing positive for THG, Chambers’ coach Remi Korchemny was among the four men indicted by a federal grand jury in America on steroid distribution to athletes. Athletics was the very first sport to be hit by the controversy but now more and more sports are involved. Anabolic steroids can enhance the body’s capacity to train and compete to the highest level. They will also lessen fatigue associated with hard training. Steroids will also promote the development of muscle tissue in the body together with increase in strength and power.

Because of the THG scandal, Chambers is also banned from competing for Britain in the Olympics because of the British Olympic Association’s bylaw which says that athletes with a doping conviction against their name are ineligible. The ISTAF meeting is the first stop in the six-meeting Golden League series.

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