DWAIN CHAMBERS has been urged to halt his challenge to an Olympic ban for the good of the British team heading to Beijing.
The sprinter's legal team have filed court papers against the British Olympic Association in a bid to pave the way for him to go to next month's Games in China.
Chambers, 30, is currently barred from competing in any Olympics under a BOA bylaw tha
t bans drug cheats unless there are mitigating circumstances. Colin Jackson, the former 110 metre hurdles world record holder and 1998 Olympic silver medallist, feels Chambers should forget his whole campaign so as not to unsettle the squad. "Dwain is being very irresponsible to the other Team GB members in his approach," said 41-year-old Jackson.
"Why would you want to create a disturbance for others in your team? Every athlete out there representing Great Britain will be asked, 'what do you think about being in a team with Dwain Chambers?' Now is that fair to have that burden put on them? He should not be able to look for sympathy from anyone else. It has always been the case that you know if you get banned for drugs, you would not be able to take part in the Olympics, so all this stuff about rehabilitation does not exist.
"The rules are simple: if you get caught, you pay the punishment. If he wants to run in the IAAF meets then let him get on with it. But, as far as the Olympics are concerned, you know the rules and so play by them." Lord Sebastian Coe – who won Olympic gold for Britain in the 1500 metres in 1980 and 1984 and is chairman of the London 2012 organising committee – believes the court case could be damaging for the sport.
"Clearly as a vice-president of the international track and field federation (IAAF) and as a former competitor, I would rather that he didn't do that," Coe said.
"I think it is distracting, it is damaging and this is clearly an issue that my sport has to deal very seriously with."
The full article contains 358 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
