THE double Olympic champion Dame Kelly Holmes yesterday insisted Dwain Chambers should not be allowed to represent Great Britain at the World Indoor Championships.
Chambers, who served a two-year ban after testing positive for the anabolic steroid THG in 2003, is in the squad after winning last weekend's trials.
Dame Kelly, who won gold in the 800m and 1,500m at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, said: "Each (dru
gs] case is different. But in his case, I don't believe he should be running.
"This was an athlete who went to America, knowingly took a drug that was undetectable at the time, got caught, admitted he'd taken drugs, then went on to say that you can't win anything without taking drugs."
She went on: "I don't think it puts us in a good light as a country, allowing a cheat, who has admitted he's a cheat, to represent us.
"There are so many other people, like myself, who are completely dedicated, focused, committed and went through so many things to try and be the best you can be, and then there's other people knowingly cheating."
UK Athletics said it had reluctantly selected Chambers for the championships in Valencia, Spain, next month after his 60m victory in the trials.
The selection committee said in a statement: "The committee was unanimous in its desire not to select Dwain.
"Taking him to the World Indoors deprives young, upwardly mobile, committed athletes of this key development opportunity."
The full article contains 253 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
