Darren Campbell: I competed against Dwain for 10 years – but this decision is right
Saturday, 19 July 2008
I have known Dwain for more than 10 years and I feel sorry that he has been caught up in all this, but it would have been the wrong decision for sport, not just athletics, if he had won his case and gone to Beijing.
Since the British Olympic Association rule was brought in in 1992, every athlete in Britain has known that if you take drugs and you are caught, you are banned for life from the Olympic Games. From the moment you take those drugs, you take a gamble.
I grew up with people making mistakes, and I've made mistakes myself. But I am accountable for those mistakes.
The news about Dwain came through when I was on a train to watch the Golden League athletics in Paris with a group of about 30 young sprinters who have won the Street Athletics competition that Linford Christie and I have set up in deprived areas. Quite a few of the lads were making comments about the case, and they felt it was the right decision.
One of our winners from the last couple of years who has won the English Schools title said to me: "This has got to be the right decision. Otherwise it would send out the message that you can gamble with drugs, get caught and you can still come back." So they understand what is at stake here.
I first competed against Dwain at the 1998 European Championships, where I won gold and he won silver, and we both won gold in the relay. I think the only thing Dwain lacked then was mental toughness, but what he has been through this last year has shown he has become a tougher guy. That's why watching him is very sad for me, because that toughness is what he needed as an athlete. He never needed to take drugs at all.
Darren Campbell was talking to Mike Rowbottom. Campbell retired in 2006 after a sprinting career that earned him European 100m gold, Olympic silver at 200m and an Olympic gold in the sprint relay in 2004
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Rubbish. He's quite right. Dwain was directly implicated in biggest PEDs scandal in athletics history. He reluctantly and defiantly landed in truthful position after being caught by authorities, then proceeded to drag Team GB slow motion through muck and mire as he positioned himself to try to take down rules which benefited him nicely until he turned to US drug dealers who promised him avarice beyond compare. Painting him as victim is disingenuous without grace. I agree with you though that Darren is best served by NOT defending LC and his personal record.
Posted by russ benjamin | 21.07.08, 16:43 GMT
Unfortunately Darren doesn't seem to be able to recognise the hypocrisy and double standards here. He says he set up a competition with Linford Christie (who also coached Darren). This would be the same Linford Christie who had two positive tests, served a two year ban, but is now a UKA-appointed technical coach and mentor. Dwain is held up as the root of all evil in British athletics. He is not and he has been unfairly treated. The paragons of moral virtue find it difficult to locate their spines when the targets are not as easy as Chambers.
Posted by Simon Smith | 19.07.08, 11:57 GMT