Anti-Doping Pressure Rising?

Story written by Eric.

UK Sport is putting together a new task force which it hopes will hit the anti-doping initiatives it has squarely on the head, drive out cheats, shore up the sport's fragile image with the public and prove to be a good opportunity for athletes, trainers and medical professionals in contact with each other to report suspected anti-doping violations according to a report in The Guardian.

John Scott, head of the United Kingdom's anti-doping authority, said that UK Sport currently attempting to develop start-up national anti-doping organisation independent of UK Sport that will place a much larger emphasis on intelligence gathering and investigation than current anti-doping measures in place.

"What we want to do is demonstrate through rigorous pre-games testing that we are doing everything that we can to prevent anyone who is cheating going to the Games," Scott stateed. "Whether it will be 100% successful we don't know but we are sending out very strong messages to discourage people."

The apparent message which will be sent out to athletes is one which sounds like it comes straight from a British spy novel.

The new agency, which will be functional before the Beijing Games begin, has a goal of having athletes keep an eye out on other athletes on the track and in the locker rooms; trainers keep a look out for irregularities in their groups which could signal one of their members breaking an anti-doping rule; and for medical staff - including trainers, doctors and anyone else who treats athletes to break out a state of what it is considering complacency and speak up when suspected drug abuse has occured.

"Tests will be planned using our intelligence-based testing approach which focuses the allocation of tests around where they have a maximum impact in terms of detection and deterrence," said Scott on the UK Sports home page (link).

"Whilst the overall aim is to test everyone at least once, obviously those in more high-risk sports or disciplines can and will be tested more often. Essentially there is no limit to the number of times we might test any individual athlete."

It all sounds good on paper to a certain degree, though there are some inherent risks involved as well as a margin of payback which must be factored in to the equation as well.

A track and field agent approached me two years ago regarding a prominent athletics group in the United States which had been notorious for what he considered breaking anti-doping rules.

Had the UK Sport inititiative been in place then, perhaps a few of the group members would have been caught earlier - and even more of them rounded up and suspended than the nearly dozen or so who ultimately were.

However, had this particular person had a bone to pick with the particular trainer or any of the athletes for whatever reason, he could have used this against the group and began submitting anonymous claims to the relevant agency to have the group investigated.

UK Sport will need to have a procedure in place which will weed out false claims and be able to truly understand which ones are of true significance. It will also need to be able to handle non-analytical positives whereby one athlete may make a claim that another athlete has spoken about illegal drug use or methods, has employed them and/or has requested the same of the athlete.

UK Sport is hoping that this initiative will gain thorough support from the groups it intends to market the idea to, and that the sport's image will clean up as internal accountability between the atheltes, trainers and medics becomes better. Their aim is to have a clean team compete in Beijing, and they hope that all finalists will have had deposited either a urine or blood sample prior to the Games.

Dwain Chambers' name naturally surfaces when discussion about catching cheats in sport - specifically in the United Kingdom - arises.

Chambers was part of the BALCO scandal which netted his main rival, Tim Montgomery, a ban from the sport and a stripped world record-title and time and netted Chambers a lifetime Olympics ban from his governing body.

Chambers travelled to the United States to train with Ukrainian Remi Korchemny, and became part of BALCO's illegal drug organisation.

UK Sport has been consistently and more openly in pursuit of information Chambers may have which can connect dots between other athletes and BALCO; other athletes and unknown suppliers; trainers and suppliers; and potentially medical staff with whom Chambers may have been in contact whilst under the doping regime. The belief is that Chambers has more information to provide the anti-doping pursuers than that which he has been fortcoming.

Victor Conte, BALCO's founder, has on occasion - and in no uncertain terms - stated that he would not ever reveal the identities of athletes who were caught up in the BALCO debacle but who had not been publicly brought to light. Chambers, who may have information on one or more of those athletes - or their trainers - from his time in California, would be a good asset to tap into, say UK Sport.

Conte and Chambers have both been willing to help out the cause of cleaning up sport, but Chambers' request appears to have too steep a price for UK Sport, namely re-instatement into the Olympic opportunity should he have the opportunity to qualify.

Will the new initiative find favour with other athletes who, unlike Chambers, have not been caught in a net of deceit, but have perhaps chased athletes who have been suspected of doping?

I don't believe the programme will have the stirring success it is attempting to achieve at the on-set, but it does have potential to be of terrific benefit in the longer run in the lead-up to London 2012.

The Beijing Games are only four months away, and, according to Conte, most world-class athletes who are doping (whether or not that is a large percentage of the athletes, themselves, or a smaller one is up to debate) finish their strength cycles in March. Any athletes who should test positive in the next few months would have done so by slipping up and using past the expiration date, so-to-speak.

On that front, there is a small hope that some cheats may get caught if they are left out to compete without any preparation on how to mask their drugs.

However, this is an apparently small percentage of athletes, and the fight to catch them will be more costly than the reward - though preventing any Olympian from shaming their nation before millions of people may be a just cause to make such pursuits.

Given time, more means and better opportunity to reach the inner circles in which athletes travel, the UK Sports initiative can have a greater effect of persuading athlete "A" to discuss with authorities the illegal events he (or she) knows that athlete "B" is employing to gain an advantage over their competitors.

Two of last year's surprise doping tests on Bulgarians Venelina Veneva and Vanya Stambolova netted positive results following what is believed to be a tip by an athlete or their trainer on their out-of-competition whereabouts.

Veneva had long been suspected of taking performance-enhancing drugs, but had never had an analytical positive result, hence leaving her performances simply up to speculation in the absence of proof.

There are other anti-doping measures out here in the EU which attempt to help athletes who compete clean to turn in those who they suspect are dirty. WADA has an initiative which permits athletes to leave anonymous tips, as well as does the IAAF - the governing body of track and field in the world.

Due to the lack of reporting on how athletes are caught, it is impossible to make a guesstimate on how successful the programmes are, however.

UK Sport's goal is to promote the highest standards of sporting conduct whilst continuing to lead a world-class anti-doping programme for the UK and being responsible for improving the education and promotion of ethically fair and drug-free sport, according to its website.

Ceplak Banned Two Years

Jolanda Ceplak, the world indoor 800m record-holder who tested positive for EPO at a meet in July 2007, has had a two-year ban upheld by her athletics federation, AZS, reports stated on Thursday.

Ceplak, who is 30, has likely lost an opportunity to ever compete for a gold medal in any future Olympic Games, as she will be 34 when the Games head to London four years from now.

Older age has not always prohibited athletes from achieving amazing results, but it has been a hindrance more than athletes have been able to defy it.

Ceplak set her current world indoor standard of 1.55,82 six years ago in Wien, and set her outdoor best - 1.55,19 - later that outdoor season at Heusden-Zolder.

Ceplak finished 2007 with a 1.59,86 run at Lignano Sabbiadoro.

By Any Means Possible: A Game of Cheating and Forced Reinstatement

Story written by Eric.

An athlete bent on using drugs to cheat will stop at nothing to win: he will squirm through loopholes, she will sprint through logic, and they will attempt to lean ahead of testers when the finish line draws near - or the drug cycle is over.

They are becoming more adept at playing both sides of the predator and prey game as well.

The cheater's meal ticket is punched in the form of opulent payouts and appearance fees in rich meets sprinkled here across the continent of Europe. These organisers, the public gathered there to watch along with the non-suspecting, non-doped competitors are called the prey.

The cheater is hunted by three particular alphabet soup organisations bearing the acronyms WADA, IAAF and USADA - organisations which have a united purpose to stamp out illegal drug use in an effort to provide clean sport among its initiatives.

Athletes pursue their targets by any means deemed necessary - even if that sometimes means leaving tracks in the sand for those following with vials, notebooks and chain of custody numbers to close in and strike at random.

Athletes who succeed at deception find themselves enabled to gain an unfair, illegal and unjust advantage over their competitors. They also hoodwink meet organisers who have bills to pay, fans who occupy expensive seats in the prime sections of the stadiums and corporate sponsors eager to get a prime return on their advertising investments.

WARNING: KEEP OUT

Anti-doping officials who are able to catch a lucky break are able to keep a cheat or two off the streets for a couple of years - or down a lane in the centre of a track near you if that imagery fits you better.

More importantly in their eyes, they're able to provide a semblance of cleanliness the sport's image has suffered to regain following BALCO, Marion Jones, stolen world records, tainted victories and lies, lies and more lies.

The highest anti-doping body organisation in the world along with track and field's governing officials are attempting to bring the spirit of true competition and cleanliness back into the sport of track and field, and welcome any legal, beneficial and binding way to reach their goals of making track and field safe and clean for the competitors and pure for the spectactors.

One can reason that they are attempting to meet this objective by any means possible.

They have found allies with European meet organisers who have signed a pact to keep cheats out of their venues, and certain national governing bodies like UK Athletics have prohibited convicted drug cheaters from participating for their country in the Olympic Games - the pinnacle of a professional athlete's aspirations.

The Euromeetings group, whose members conduct 51 track-and-field meets here on the European circuit, have also made a pact to refuse entry to current or future athletes convicted of serious doping violations -- those whose violations require a two- or more year banishment.

Keeping drug cheats out of elite, world-class competitions where money and fortune is at stake seems like a good idea on the surface, because athletes who cheated had previously been dishonest and collected money under false pretenses, and there's nothing written in the moral code of life which states they wouldn't do it again at the first opportunity afforded them.

This is an issue of trust which is difficult for a convicted athlete to regain once they have been inked on to the blacklist the organisers by resources within their circle of influence - including by track agents whose own athletes may miss out on valuable lane draws and Grand Prix points if a cheat is inadvertently allowed to compete.

There are athletes who have unknowingly injested products with a banned substances and have been penalised one or two years for their offences. Such athletes won't be bound together with the dirty lot who have made concerted efforts to swindle the sport and rob it of its integrity.

Just this week, Susan Chepkemei, a four-time IAAF World Half-Marathon medalist, was sanctioned for a doping violation for Salbutamol, a medication commonly prescribed for breathing problems -- usually asthma.

Chepkemei will sit out a year of competition due to the IAAF's strict liability rule which binds all athletes who are competing under its jurisdiction - or have the intention of doing so - to be held accountable for all substances in their bodies.

Chepkemei's case is one of bad luck, as the three-time half-marathon silver medallist was prescribed a medication at a hospital by a licensed doctor; she didn't demonstrate an intention to foul out of the game of track and field this season.

RETURNING BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY

Other athletes like British sprinter Dwain Chambers (photo above) and former Stanford University graduate Chryste Gaines, however, have made attempts in their careers to lure and mislead, and have been banned for steroid abuse - or suspicion of its use. They did cheat by all means possible, with those means coming in the form of drugs not detectable by conventional testing methods.

Now, several years removed from the disgraceful moments when they were discovered to have lied and covered up their tracks, Chambers and Gaines want back into the game, and they're planning on using any means necessary to gain acceptance on the playground.

Chambers, who has returned to the sport following his suspension and an aborted attempt to make it big in the NFL, has faced a fury of negative opinion in his homeland this winter, with the climax reached in having had to make legal maneuvers with UK Athletics in order to run in his national indoor championships two weekends ago - a 60m final which he won.

Chambers, who, along with Gaines, was caught in the BALCO net when Victor Conte's illegal operations were raided and information about their individual involvements was brought before a United States grand jury, has been frozen out of other meets of note this winter - meets which organisers have a right to pick and choose those whom they want, rather than those they must.

Gaines, who compted in her national indoor championships in Boston at the last week-end, has also been frozen out of meets vital to a world-class athlete's pocket book and sustainability, and believes it is high time for athletes on the rebound from drug offences to sue in order to be able to return to the track and carry on their jobs as she aptly put it earlier this week.

"Because we were affiliated with Balco we have this whole different stigma attached to us," Gaines told the BBC (link). "We're being treated differently. We're asked to serve a lifetime ban."

Actually, Gaines and Chambers have left a lifetime taint and stain on the sport as far as many current fans and former athletes are concerned, and many - including former mile world record-holders Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram, both from Great Britain, have decried their further involvement in the sport.

SPEED MEANS PLAY?

Gaines and Chambers share common ground in three areas: they were both convicted of cheating, have both faced roadblocks in their attempted comebacks, and may each consider legal avenues in an effort to regain their footing and paychecks.

Chambers may have an easier time at pursuing his dreams as he has demonstrated that he belongs in the upper echelons, having run the seventh-fastest 60m in the world this year, 6,56 seconds indoors in Sheffield.

Gaines, who is eight years older than Chambers, showed signs of her age in Boston, and has only the 110th-fastest 60m time in the world this season.

No meeting arranger would be wise to spend money featuring a non-ranked athlete unless he or she was a national star performing in front of a home crowd in a "B"-heat competition.

Gaines may declare that her opportunities are few and far between and have thereby affected her marketability and races, but that has not been the case with Chambers, who has only raced in two meetings this indoor season - and won them both.

Whether either athlete makes an attempt to sue meeting promoters to gain entrance into events for which the organisers are solely at liberty to invite those whom they please remains to be seen.

One point I'd like to drive across is that Chambers, Gaines and every other drug cheater who has been caught has broken a set of rules which have governed behaviour and expectations placed on them by world, international and national governing bodies.

If the sport can be looked at from a business standpoint, the meeting organisers hire athletes into their meets through appearance fees in an effort to please the two groups mentioned above - the fans and the sponsors.

A responsible corporate manager takes time to have his consultants and employees screened and simply doesn't hire those who don't fit a certain criteria. Track and field meet managers don't have to be any different in their business approach as long as they accept all open applications and make their "hiring" decisions based on merit, suitability and responsibility.

If they are able to demonstrate a sensible approach to this issue, they may avoid unnecessary, time-consuming and expensive lawsuits, and may actually keep a player in this game called track and field from ever attempting to cheat if the stakes include a permanent place "outside" of the arena.

Track Agents Hope to Curb "Serious" Offenders

Story written by Eric

The Association of Athletics Managers (AAM) agreed in November 2007 that it would not represent any track and field athlete who tests positive for -- and is convicted of -- a doping violation which penalises the athlete for two or more years.

It was a hard stance taken against cheats, but a decisive one which sends a clear message to athletes: Doing the crime equals doing the time, but forgiveness won't come by way of powerful men in charge of securing placements in meets when those fallen athletes return.

And, as it turns out, many meets in Europe won't accept those athletes, either.

The agent initiative, which was signed 2007-November-9, has gathered momentum with 30 members representing virtually every high-profile athlete across the globe -- athletes who won 31 individual Gold Medals in the Athens Olympics four years ago.

The AAM's goal is to improve the professional status of the sport of athletics on a worldwide basis, and, in having signed a pact inclusive of the top agents, it believes it will have better opportunity to police and license managers and agents.

According to Mark Wetmore, who works at Global Athletics and Marketing managing about 70 track and field athletes from around the world -- including triple 2007 IAAF World Outdoor champion Tyson Gay, agents came together to form the disciplinary committee in a concerted attempt to take a stand in the sport.

"We have to help clean up our sport in any way we can. We're not helping these things if athletes can get another agent, another manager. We shouldn't support it in any way," he stated to the Boston Globe on 2008-Jaunary-27.

Other reknowned agents who have signed on the dotted line include Emmanuel Hudson, whose track club, HSI, includes a former banned athlete, Torri Edwards; Renaldo Nehemiah, whose star client has been banned Olympic 100m champion Justin Gatlin; and John Regis, who worked with Dwain Chambers -- a former BALCO client who's currently involved in an upheaval with UK Athletics in Great Britain.

Wetmore has also had one client fall prey to the drug game, sprinter Aziz Zakari.

Said Wetmore, who is also 110m hurdle world-record holder Liu Xiang's agent, to The Independent:

"You hear such sweeping statements being made about the sport – that doping is all the fault of the coaches, or of the agents – and we wanted to make it clear to people that we didn't have anything to do with it. We take this issue very seriously and we feel we have to make a stand. I think you are seeing groups independently coming to the same conclusions right now. The meeting promoters and the agents are now shoulder-to-shoulder against doping."

The Euromeetings group, whose members conduct track-and-field meets here on the European circuit, have also made a pact to refuse entry to current or future athletes convicted of serious doping violations -- those whose violations require a two- or more year banishment.

The Euromeetings are headed by president Rajne Soderberg, who also serves as meeting director of the DN Galan event in Stockholm.

Chambers failed a test for THG -- an undetectable steroid issued by Victor Conte's BALCO laboratories in California, USA -- in 2003, and later admitted candidly that he had taken steroids for a longer period of time than that for which he had been caught.

The Euromeetings group is comprised of quite a few meeting arrangers who had payed Chambers to compete at their track meets whilst he was a doped athlete, and who have requested that they be payed back the money he in essense stole whilst falsely presenting himself as a clean athlete.

He returned to full-time athletics competition in 2006 following his 24-month ban, and helped Great Britain secure a gold medal in the 4x100m relay down in Göteborg at the EAA European Outdoor Championships that August. Chambers then attempted to pursue a dream of playing in the NFL, was unsuccessful, and then decided to return to the track.

UK Athletics' row with Chambers stems from Chambers not having been on the active drug testing programme during his time spent away from the sport in 2007, and state they can not assure he is a clean athlete. Chambers has been tested since his return to competition this indoor season, but the stated effects of Conte's drugs are said to have an effect life of up to two years.

The Euromeetings group may flex their arms and prohibit Chambers from competing in their events -- much like they have with blocking his entry at today's on-going Norwich Union Grand Prix meet in Birmingham. In doing so, however, they effectively shoot themselves in the foot, as a percentage of money Chambers earns can be garnished and used toward repayment to them.

One athlete, American hurdler Damu Cherry, has already felt the backlash resulting from a previous ban, and was removed from the starting list at the Olso Golden League meeting when Daniel Wessfeldt, another prominent agent who signed the agreement, had her removed.

Can Conte Clean Up Athletics?

Story written by Eric

Victor Conte has worn a lot of hats in his professional life, but nothing like the larger than life one he's trying on at newspaper outlets near you.

Conte has also worn several labels across his chest of late, with the latest outing another peculiar one in which the former bass guitarist was seen bearing the letter "S" whilst seated with long-time adversary Dick Pound, the former head of WADA.

Conte, a former musician who turned into an overnight nutritionist, has been periodically called a liar, a cheat, a serpent and a thief by some very grown-up men within the United States government who wield powerful job titles and appear fuelled by a supply of natural, non-synthetic testosterone.

That's the mild version for the PG-13 readers.

I doubt Conte's life ambitions are to demonstrate how well he can squirm on his belly -- especially with his company, SNAC, raking in considerable amounts of cash and Conte reaping the benefits. So there must be another explanation for the label and hat Conte has been seen wearing with greater frequency over the past six weeks.

Consider that he's also been called a very bad man for luring unsuspecting athletes away from natural hard work and sweat into a life of lies, lies and more lies mixed together with a cover-up or two in an effort to level out a playing field in athletics he believes is littered with illegal drugs.

He's also been labeled self-serving and unappreciative of the spirit of true competition, and has been cast off as a bitter man whose true interests in sport are in plaguing the purity of the Olympic games.

So what does that solid-colored "S" planted above Conte's chest represent?

That "S" jumps out at a person very suddenly and without fail each and every time drugs controversy within athletics sprouts up and every conceivable tie between performance-enhancing drugs is made between an athlete caught for doping and Conte, the brain-child behind one of the most prolific and previously well-kept doping secrets in all of professional sport.

The phenominem occurs as though Conte, 58, has somehow mysteriously become omniscient, and he has been given an elevated, god-like status as a result of it.

Conte gets the call when a Dwain Chambers-type returns from a drug ban -- from using Conte's products, nonetheless, and gets on a black list rather than an "A" list within European meet organizers' athletics events.

He chimes in when a Marion Jones quacks for mercy in a courtroom only to be ushered off to six months of day-care 100 miles from her home instead of a slap on the wrists and probation.

It seems every time a track athlete is caught up in a moment of controversy and drugs are involved, Conte has his nose in everyone else's business but his own -- unless shedding light on the drug problem has become his business.

Conte was jailed in 2003 for improprieties relating from his illegal and immensely popular BALCO dealings with sports stars ranging from major league baseball players to track and field athletes, and professional cyclists to NFL stars.

He spent a total of eight months under lock and key -- four at a minimum-security prison camp, and four home-confined.

He stated to journalists after Judge Susan Illston sentenced him that he had hoped he could turn around the incredible amount of wrongdoing into positives for athletes and the fans who watch them compete, and even asked the current sitting President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, to intervene on his behalf so that Conte could make a concerted effort to help America send a "clean" team to Athens to compete in the Olympic Games.

"It is said that I have become the poster child for the wrongdoing in Olympic as well as professional sports," he said outside the court. "Ironically, I find myself as someone qualified to help solve this problem plaguing sports, precisely because I've been a major contributor to the controversy."

So does that make Conte, who has since moved on from BALCO and become a fixture within the sport, a savior, a sinner or a saint?

Try Superman.

Among the many labels Conte has had pegged on to his character, he has also been labeled an opportunist -- a man who rarely misses a step or a beat when occasion lends itself for him to capitalize and make good on his talent to sell.

Perhaps that is what Conte is now doing to whoever will sit and listen, namely selling them on a similar notion he asked former athletes to purchase for a price -- one which saw many of them lose honors, prizes and esteem once they were discovered to have cheated.

Conte's pitch today, however, isn't that one must cheat to win, rather that the current state of testing for performance-enhancing drugs is unacceptable, because the testers are completely off key in their pursuit of the cheaters.

Track and field is suffering a critical blow with a public which believes just what people like Conte are stating, and what scribes are printing, namely that superstar athletes compete dirty and will continue to do so until someone steps up to their calling and helps turn over all the stones where the athletes, their coaches and their distributors are hiding their stashes.

Conte believes he is just the one for the job, supported by the following story.

Conte has been an eyewitness not only to the effect drugs can have on athletes, but has keen experience hiding out and waiting for time to pass on, for drugs to pass through, and for athletes to pass tests over and over and over again to their heart's content and to his own personal satisfaction with helping enable the deception to have remained covered.

Conte made the following remark recently when Chambers recently made news for an over-blown story, which has embarrassed UK Athletics and the British Olympic Association.

"I still think there is rampant use of drugs out there. It can be cleaned up but they have to use people from the other side, like Dwain and myself, and use the knowledge we've gained. Then, when athletes truly believe it is much more difficult to circumvent the testing, you'll see far more performances by athletes who are doing it with hard work as opposed to chemical substances."

Indeed, athletes and coaches, trainers and even agents do know where the minefields are, and they know which steps must be taken in order to successfully navigate through them. Is it possible that such persons, working on their own initiative following drug bans, could be of use to anti-doping organizations in their fight to stamp out drugs in sport?

Perhaps they can, but in Chambers' case, his federation believes it can be done outside of the track and away from the field.

Is it likely that Conte, on the other hand, who doesn't lace up spikes to sprint down a track at breath-taking speeds, can be Superman in this story and help the World Anti-Doping Agency and the United States Anti-Doping Agency run faster than a speeding cheat and leap tall buildings to catch up to them?

Pound, who had ridiculed Conte in the past for littering the sport with druggies and copping out by not testifying in his trial about his affairs, met with Conte on 2007-December-7 to shed light on such matters.

According to both parties involved, the meeting they had was productive, and both men looked forward to sharing more as time elapsed and cards began to fall into place.

Conte has helped athletes cheat, and he has helped those athletes cover up their sins against the sport. He is a convicted criminal with a felony record, and has had his life temporarily interrupted by the Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons and the California Corrections, Probation Department.

He is also a man who says he is sitting on a wealth of important information, and he seems willing and ready to spread his sermon to whoever has the time, patience and willingness to listen.

Will track and field, which is scratching for respect, find ties with Victor Conte which positively bind and won't snap?

Stay tuned to find out.

Kallur Sets New NR, Chambers Wins in Comeback

Story written by EPelle

Dwain Chambers, the British sprinter on a comeback after a failed NFL career attempt, qualified for the UK National Indoor Championships 60m on Saturday by posting a winning time of 6,60 seconds at the Birmingham Games.

Chambers, 29, who detoured his athletics career in 2007 following a successful - yet controversial - comeback the previous year from a 2003 performance-enhancing drugs bust, has a tougher challenge ahead of him than attempting to win a race featuring a younger, stronger competitor in 21-year-old Craig Pickering, the 2005 European Junior 100m champion.

Chambers may not even make it to the starting blocks now that he's qualified for next weekend's national championships, because UK Athletics, the athletics governing body of Britain, does not want him to compete.

The 60m dash in Sheffield next weekend is the trials run for the IAAF World Indoor Championships, and the winner will be invited to participate next month in Valencia for Great Britain. Chambers, because he has not been on the official drug-testing register for more than a year, runs the risk of being left off the team.

Meanwhile, in Stuttgart yesterday evening, Sweden's Susanna Kallur, the 2006 European Champion and reigning IAAF Indoor 60m hurdles champion, set a new Swedish record in her speciality, running 7,72 seconds - the second-fastest ever run indoors - at the Sparkassan Cup.

It was the second time in less than a week the 26-year-old set a new personal best at this distance.

Russian Lyudmila Narozhilenko, who later became a Swedish national, set the world-record of 7,69 seconds in Chelyabinsk, Russia in 1990.

Kallur set her second-consecutive Swedish record this week, having run 7,75 at the Samsung Galan at Scandinavium in Göteborg, Sweden, on Tuesday evening, and broke Lyudmila Engquist's (formerly Nazorzhilenko) previous national mark of 7,80 seconds.

Kallur opened her season with a 7,81 mark in Glasgow two weekends ago.

Kallur, who has had a winter of injury-free training with her twin sister, Jenny, is reaping the rewards of consistency and a more focussed strength and conditioning schedule as she prepares for this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing. She holds a 12,49 second 100m hurdles best outdoors - a mark she achieved last summer in Berlin.

Kallur was injured for three months leading up to the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, and did not make it past the semi-finals. She also hopes to improve on her fourth-place finish from last season's IAAF World Outdoor Championships 100m hurdles final - a race she was winning until American Michelle Perry, the eventual winner, interfered with Kallur over the final hurdle and impeded Kallur's finishing drive.

The Kallur twins are no strangers to handling success. Their father Anders Kallur, the four-time Stanley Cup winner with the New York Islanders, is their manager. Jenny Kallur is skipping the 2008 indoor season.

In the final news of the hour, Russian André Silnov, the 2006 European Outdoor high jump champion, won his event at the Hochsprung Mit Musik high jump challenge in Arnstadt, Germany, yesterday, clearing 2,37m - the world's highest jump of the season. Stefan Holm, the reigning Olympic champion from Sweden, finished second in 2,35m. Silnov had one attempt at 2,39m and fouled twice at 2,41m.

Only nine other athletes in history have surpassed the 2,40m barrier which Silnov attempted to clear in Arnstadt. Holm is the last athlete who has cleared 2,40m indoors or outdoors since winning the 2003 European Indoor Championships in Madrid, Spain over Russian Jaraslov Rybakov, who finished third in Arstsadt yesterday (2,35m).

Cuban Javier Sotamayor holds the indoor and outdoor world records with jumps of 2,43m and 2,45m, respectively.

UK Athletics Chief Calls For Tougher Anti-Doping Measures

Story written by EPelle

UK Athletics Chief Executive Niels de Vos has demanded that drug cheats within his sport be subjected to criminal proceedings, and would like police involvement in an attempt to thwart athletes from cheating their way to success.

"Athletics is a sport where we have to make sure that we do everything we possibly can to root out and identify cheats and then, when we have done, not to turn around and welcome them back with open arms two years later.

"It is, it seems to me, wholly hypocritical. A British vest is something that people rightly strive years to earn and achieve. It's one of the greatest moments of their lives, and for it to be despoiled by a cheat is wrong and my job, as a chief executive, is to make that vest maintains its purity in the future.

"The prevailing view among UK athletes and many world athletes is that there should be a lifetime ban for drug offences. I'd like to see the world governing body institute lifetime bans for drug cheats."

Those sentiments were in response to disgraced sprinter Dwain Chambers' attempted comeback -- an action dos Vos would like to see fail (See related article).

Chambers returned from a two-year anti-doping suspension in 2006, and was permitted to return to the sport under former UK Athletics executive David Moorcraft - a former 5.000m world-record holder. Chambers owes a considerable fortune to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for being payed earnings whilst he was on drugs, and will be forced to pay back that money if - and when - he can.

Chambers attempted to make a career in the NFL, but was unsuccessful at making it out of NFL Europe (the feeder league for the NFL consisting of six teams: Frankfurt, Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg and Amsterdam) before it folded its league.

Chambers has since attempted to return to track and field, and has hopes of qualifying for the IAAF World Indoor Championships - a goal which de Vos would like to deny Chambers. Chambers has vowed to make this a legal battle in an effort to put back on the Union Jack vest and compete for his country.

The Chambers controversy isn't the primary focus de Vos has in his immediate line of sight, however. de Vos would also like to have law enforcement more involved in the fight to keep his sport clean, and has suggested Great Britain follow the French model. where possesssion of banned substances has begun leading to criminal charges.

de Vos could take this matter further, however, as merely catching athletes in an act of possesing illegal performance-enhancing drugs will not prove to be easy.

The Italian anti-doping agency works in conjunction with prosecutors to enforce state power to punish athletes, support personnel, doctors, coaches and leaders involved in criminal anti-doping matters.

The Italian ministry routinely tracks banned substances by reviewing lists maintained by both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

A criminal investigation is launched by the prosecutor's office when they are alerted by those lists that an athlete has been implicated in a doping scandal. The prosecutor has extensive authorisation to approve wire taps, if they believe that evidence of possible doping has occurred with an athlete.

The Italian Olympic Committee can also request of its anti-doping prosecutor to request FIDAL -- the Italian Athletics Federation -- to punish athletes.

The French are not alone in making concerted efforts to criminalise those who cheat, as Portuguese authorities discussed an initiative at their 2007 National Sports Council to propose tough sentences that range from six months to three years in prison for those convicted of violating certain anti-doping rules.

The European Union's member states have initiatives in place to combat the problem of doping, with both specific and general legislation suggested for public anti-doping violations, and joint action available by public authorities and sport organisations to criminalise violations.

de Vos joined the Sale Sharks rugby team at the start of the 2002-2003 season, and helped them win the Premiership trophy in 2006. He is credited with turning around fan support and participation with the team - key elements UK Athletics are hoping to bank off of during de Vos's tenure as chief executive.

Will Chambers Ever Truly Comeback?

Story written by EPelle

Twelve months ago British sprinter Dwain Anthony Chambers attempted to become an NFL star. He attempted valiantly to play in the limelight in America, turn over a new leaf, walk past the transgressions he committed in the sport of track and field and into the promising and quite lucrative sport of tackle football some five time zones and one continent removed from home - and away from critics.

A year later, after having made and then lost out on what was to have been the next stage in his bid to become an NFL star after injuring himself during a practice session, Chambers is attempting to make a comeback into the sport which once hailed him as a hero, and now looks down condescendingly to a man who had cheated his way to the top.

Chambers, the former European Champion over 100m, built his previous athletic success by taking drugs — illegal, performance-enhancing ones which, at the time, were completely undetectable, absolutely unknown and unequivocally wrong to use.

These were BALCO drugs, and having been outed as an associate of Victor Conte and Remi Korchemny, Chambers paid a steep and heavy price for his role in that scandal - one which has mainly been American-based and has involved persons like Marion Jones and Dana Stubblefield - two former athletes who have in recent days both been charged with lying to the same U.S. IRS Agent, Jeff Novitsky, regarding their association to Conte's illegal laboratory in Burlingame, California.

Jones is set to spend six months in prison for her role in that case along with an unrelated check-fraud one; Stubblefield will be sentenced in two months' time.

Chambers, who has never been jailed for a crime many consider relatively minor in the grand scheme of things, has a hill to traverse as he attempts to lace up his spikes and compete for a living - literally and in the figurative sense. No, make that a mountain to climb. He has no less than £180.000 (roughly $360.000) to repay to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for having confessed to previously earning a living on their dime, so to speak.

I've continued following Chambers' NFL and sprint aspirations with keen appreciation, as I had a previous opportunity to spend time with him one-on-one, and experience the sincerity he displays when he speaks about his life openly and with stunning candor.

The athletic road ahead for Chambers will test him to wits' end, as he attempts to jump through hurdles and obstacles to regain form, fitness, and opportunity to compete at an incredibly high price - one which will cost meet organisers nothing in the form of appearance fees, but will cost Chambers everything until he is able to satisfy his debt to the IAAF.

Chambers has a greater debt to Great Britain and his sports federation than he does to the international governing body of his sport, for he has shamed his nation and merely ripped off the former.

Sebastian Coe, Vice President of the IAAF - and former multiple middle distance world-record holder, stated a week ago that he would not remain quiet about Chambers's possible selection to the British team should he qualify, but would leave the decision up to UK Athletics. Steve Cram, who's best mile time removed Coe from the top of the world-record list, also voiced his concerns in a column a day after Coe did.

Chambers faced tall odds on his previous return to track and field in 2006, but seemed to get through them without falling apart in the process. His drive got him back on to the track. His determination landed him to the next level up where he was able to be selected to the European Championships relay team for Great Britain.

Unfortunately, no amount of grit in the world will be sufficient enough to provide Chambers one of those precious few spots on his Olympic team — a goal to which every professional track and field athlete aspires. And his national athletics body — along with several senior-level key players — are hoping to stop Chambers from potentially further ruining their nation's reputation — especially as they set shop up to host the 2012 Olympic Games.

Chambers will need to bottle up all of his anger, every bit of his remorse, his entire stock and supply of hope and combine them with a genuinely large stroke of luck in order to be considered for the Great Britain & Northern Ireland Olympic team.

First, however, he will need to line up on a track and begin putting up times and places which would warrant such a look — a process which will elude him this winter indoor season as his colleagues prepare to contest the World Indoor Championships in Valencia in March. UK Athletics mandated that all athletes who were interested in competing at their national championships would have had to have been in a 12-month anti-doping process as dictated by IAAF. Chambers failed to meet this criteria, as he was not available for IAAF antil-doping procedures during his attempt to make the NFL through the now defunct NFL Europe.

Chambers is demonstrating remarkable composure and dedication to this venture. Will the men in charge at the next junction pick the last man standing, or will they pen a red line through his name, yell, "next", and tell Chambers "thank you, you may go home now, goodbye"?

Whether or not Chambers made a successful journey to the NFL, he vowed last year to return to the track.

"Part of my mind is saying, 'leave track alone' but it is not the wise thing to do. If it doesn’t work out in Tampa, I’ve time for track this summer," he was quoted as saying in the Daily Mail over a year ago.

"I plan to come back to track regardless. It’s something I still believe I have a passion for. At the moment, I don’t but I will in time."

Chambers has a great support system behind him, having his mother, Adlith and his partner, Leone backing him as he continues forward from a past filled with a commitment to excellence, but also a past which crossed over to a darker period he'd just as soon forget.

Of Leone, he states: "If I didn’t [listen to her], I’d get my ear chewed. And then I speak to Jonathan and he brings a whole different perspective to it. It’s tough because I am used to doing everything my way."

Chambers opens up candidly about his mother.

"She always said, 'be careful what you do', and then for her to have to go out still holding her head up when people made comments … that’s hard on her.

"She was fantastic. In her mind, as long as I am okay, she is okay. She always says what people write in the papers are just words. Mind, I only showed her positive stuff in papers. Mothers don’t understand negative stuff, do they?

"She’s strong and she has her church and that kept her uplifted a lot, and during that time I kept with her a lot which helped put her mind at ease, and now she gets to see my son a lot which takes her mind off the other things."

Chambers is attempting to be very careful about how he proceeds in the sport, because he has a life savings of money to repay. He also has several million people who believe he is a pariah to convince that he was an honest man who made a mistake.

Honesty wasn't Chambers's best quality when he was discovered to have been a drugs cheat during the BALCO investigation, and he, like others including Jones, fully and rigorously denied having any connection to performance-enhancing drugs. His country bought it, and stuck with him at a very high price.

It seems that repayment plan - including interest - is not something Chambers will be able to afford, no matter how much sentiment or desire he puts into it.

Truth or Wasted Black Ink?

Story written by EPelle

Dwain Anthony Chambers, the NFL Europe hopeful and a former world-class sprinter whom I've featured on several occasions on this blog, has spoken out on BBC's Inside Sport again being asked for a response on performance-enhancing drugs - including his own private usage and speculating whether or not Olympic athletes are also taking drugs.

Chambers' discussions follow a week-long spate of confessions in which former professional cycling riders and doctors to those Tour riders - and even a masseur - detailed their accounts of having used drugs (including EPO) and aided others along in the process, and comes at the heels of Floyd Landis' public arbitration hearing - which ended last Wednesday.

Chambers, interviewed by Matthew Pinsent - a BBC Sport reporter and four-time Olympic rowing gold medalist who was knighted in 2004, discussed among other things how a non-chalant attitude toward cheating caught up with Chambers.

"I was under the assumption that I wouldn't get caught," Chambers said on the programme, which airs tonight (28-may).

Chambers did get caught, and was punished by the three-man disciplinary counsel which heard his case and reached a conclusion after seven hours of testimony by the legal teams and expert witnesses representing UK Athletics (including Dr. Don Catlin) and Chambers. UK Athletics was said to have spent over £300.000 of its anti-doping budget on the Chambers case.

A newcomer to the drugs-testing world, THG was not named on either the WADA or IOC prohibited-substance list in 2003, however Dr. Catlin was able to scientifically demonstrate that chemically and pharmacologically, THG was directly derived from an identified anabolic steroid, gestrinone.

As previously stated on earlier blogs, Chambers was stripped of times, records, performances and honours achieved during the period he was on THG. He first denied having been a part of the BALCO scandal, attributing his positive test to a contaminated substace he received from a BALCO supplement, but later confessed and took his punishment following the hearing.

Since Chambers' admission to his performance-enhancing drugs usage, he's been an on-again, off-again topic for journalists the past four years, with courage to speak out about his misdeeds and the honesty to look people and other athletes in the face who have not been quick to extend him a welcome hand.

Chambers has tried to go on in life wearing two different shoes - one which has the lure of a good future, and one which has left a lengthy stretch of lawn gutted up when he dragged himself, his family, friends, fans and the sport of athletics through a dark period of lies, cover-ups and a blame culture.

"We all go through different chapters in life," Chambers said to Pinsett.

"I came to a crossroad in my life where I took a wrong turn, you know, got hit by a bus, but fortunately, I was able to get back up on my feet, and you know, go in another direction."

Chambers has had his back turned to athletics since he chose to go full-fledge into the world of professional American fotboll (NFL Europe) at the end of last year. Nevertheless, during each and every interview which is conducted with Chambers - even from yours truly, Chambers doesn't seem too tired or too bored to deal with the subject which continually arises about drug use - four years after the fact.

Chambers has no apparent axe to grind with the sport. He has parted ways temporarily in decent standing and at peace with his soul, and competed in last year's EAA European Championships in Göteborg in the 100m (7th in 10,24 seconds [result]) and 4x100m relay (lead-off leg on victorious 38,91 team [result]). Chambers has also gotten back a noticeable amount of fan support who have followed his transition to the gridiron.

Why then all the fuss about drug use, and is there any significance in speaking with Chambers about it?

Does Chambers provide insight into the issue of drugs usage, or do journalists simply find the right time to tie in old news to current events in order to piggy-back on the wave of the day?

Dwain Chambers, along with an American, Kelli White, seem to be the only athletes these days who have taken a social responsibility for their actions and have spoken openly, honestly and, at times, painfully about their exploits in the underground world of drug-taking and risk-taking.

So when the words "Olympics" and "sprinters" and "drugs" come up in conversation - a touchy topic, as Chambers has been barred from competing in the Olympics for Great Britain for the rest of his natural life, Chambers answers Pinsett's questions about whether a "clean" sprinter could defeat a "dirty" one in an Olympic final.

Plainly, calmly and assuredly, Chambers chimes in: "It's possible, but that person that's taken drugs has to be having a real bad day. That's what I believe."

Chambers believes a lot of things, and isn't shy to state what's on his mind.

One's first reaction to hearing and/or reading what Chambers has to say could be along the lines that Chambers harbours ill-will and a great deal of disappointment with the sport, and will take every opportunity to spread a cloud of doubt and suspicion over sprinting and athletics. He has not been alone, however, in discussing drugs-usage, with several other athletes from another sport, cycling, a step ahead of him.

A sudden about-face took place in professional cycling this past week, with Zheff de Hont, a former masseur of Germany's Team Telekom racing team telling the Bild am Sonntag newspaper that he injected Jan Ullrich with EPO, and Georg Huber, who worked on six Olympic teams, acknowledging he provided cyclists testosterone between 1980 and 1990 - including 1996 Tour de France winner Bjarne Riis. One other rider, Christian Henn, a former Team Telekom member, last week admitted to previous EPO use.

Chambers tells Pinsett that WADA is a long way behind the dopers, and assures that there are other non-detectable drugs on the scene.

Ultimately, Dr. Catlin announced his resignation from the helm of the UCLA Olympic Analytical Laboratory on 2007-March-13 in what he described as an opportunity to turn to research.

According to Dr. Catlin, performance-enhancing drug use increased – not decreased – following the BALCO saga.

“If you’re a pro athlete and you read all about it and how extensive it is, even if you’re clean, you think: ‘Gee, I’ve got to get with it,’" he said in an interview with the New York Times last year.

"I have been quite surprised to see how extensive it is, even me, with the jaded eye with which I look at sports. There’s a lot more than I ever thought.”

Chambers offers an answer for the continued cat-and-mouse game being played between those who are behind the testing and those who are creating elusive ways for athletes to continue cheating.

"It's simple," he told Pinsett. "Science always moves faster than the testers."

Chambers' feet have moved faster than most others, as he's run from noll to 100m in under 10 seconds. His mouth moves slower than others when it comes time to talk about drugs, his past and the influence he has had on the sport - both positive and negative.

The words which he utters from his lips have proven to be true, thus far, and there's no reason to believe he won't continue speaking openly, freely and truthfully about the dirty world hidden far beneath the surface the every-day fan is able to see. He'll continue talking, because people continue asking. We continue asking, because others continue to get caught. Catching cheats will continue to happen, but, according to Chambers, millions of dollars thrown at "research" won't slow down the process.

Chambers Invited to NFL Camp in Tampa

Story written by EPelle

British sprinter Dwain Chambers has made the next stage in his bid to become a professional American Footballer, having been selected among 89 international players chosen for a six-week NFL Europe training camp in Tampa, Florida in March.

Chambers, the former European Champion over 100m, will not compete during the indoor athletics season, and he is almost certain to miss the 2007 IAAF World Championships in Osaka in August.

Tony Allen, NFL Europe's director of international player development, said: "As well as his obvious speed, he has impressed us with his toughness, dedication and determination at the previous camps (blog link).

"Dwain is learning the sport quickly. He understands that he faces many tough challenges if he is to make a career for himself in the NFL.

"But he has shown us he deserves the chance to test himself against NFL players at the NFL Europe training camp."

I've followed Chambers' NFL development with keen appreciation, as I've had an opportunity to spend time with him one-on-one, and experience the sincerity he displays when he speaks about his life openly and with stunning candor.

The road ahead for Chambers will test him to wits' end, as he attempts to jump through hurdles and obstacles to further make the cut as the month of March concludes.

Chambers has been selected to attend a four-day mini camp for international players at the NFL Europe cam in Tampa, beginning on 5-March. Successful candidates will then be assigned to one of the six NFL Europe teams (Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Rhein Fire) at the conclusion of the camp, 8-March.

In what promises to be a taxing, whirlwind of a process, international players arrive at their respective camps 9-11 March, where they will vye for the 48 spots for the season (including eight non-Americans). If Chambers has made it through his boot camp of a process, he will then depart with a respective team 2-4 April for Europe.

According to BBC reports, 270 non-American players took part in NFL Europe trials for places on the Florida training camp last winter.

A very low total of between eight and nine of those have been chosen to line up alongside about 300 American players - mainly young players on the rosters of NFL teams in the USA - for the Florida camp.

Chambers will need an incredible amount of luck on his side in order to prove to selectors he not only has the talent to play the American sport, but that he should be entrusted to play the sport professionally despite lacking any grassroots training and development.

Chambers has faced tall odds previously in life, with his return to the athletics last season his biggest to date. His drive got him a look during training camp in Barcelona. His determination has gotten him to the next level, where all the grit in the world will not be sufficient enough - nor stretch far enough - to provide Chambers one of those precious few spots on an international field.

Chambers will need to bottle up all of his anger, every bit of his remorse, his entire stock and supply of hope and combine them with a genuinely large stroke of luck in order to look like he should be picked as a boy among men.

Combine those with tenacity, a powerful will and an iron-clad resolve aided by nothing more than the voices within screaming for respect and success in his endeavor, and Chambers may prompt a scout to raise his hand Chambers' direction, put a black checkmark next to his name, and bring the British sprinter back home to Europe for an enduring test of patience and bodily contact unknown to Chambers in the slightest degree.

Chambers has demonstrated remarkable composure and dedication to this venture. Will the men in charge at the next junction pick the last man standing, or will they pen a red line through his name, yell, "next?", and tell Chambers "thank you, you may go home now, goodbye"?

Chambers, who has been playing as a wide receiver, will not have to put on a spectacular display of raw speed which demonstrates he can run 100 yards from point A to point Z faster than his pursuers, rather that he can shake, roll, fake-out and out-maneuver his opponents at a rapid pace and break free and known when to look up - an instict he'll have to quickly develop - for a long pass invariably hauled his way from a quarterback under heavy scramble.

The NFL will be a completely new song and dance for Chambers, but he has shown remarkable poise in perfecting his plan to gain self-confidence and respect. He's remained on the field of practice long after hours, and has asked the right developmental questions reminiscent of rookie wide-outs attempting to better their game. He's taken his lumps and bruising, and learned to deal with the obvious pain mistakes on the field make.

Here's hoping to a changed man in Dwain Chambers the athlete as he puts his mind to its greatest test to date hoping he will find the lost needle in the haystack as time quickly runs down.

Chambers Given Another Look

Story written by EPelle

Dwain Chambers has made an initial cut of NFL hopefuls, and has been invited to an additional two-day camp in Barcelona to be held 13-14 January.

I first reported to you on on 20-December that Chambers had gotten his act together, and was pursuing his dreams in the NFL (read: From Threads to Riches).

NFL Europe coaches were impressed with Chambers' raw speed and determination during his initial tryout in November, and would like to have a better look at him and other rookies in their camp - to be held over a Monday and Tuesday.

Scouts had known of Chambers' raw speed, but did not expect to see such blistering pace and use of it when he was put through a simple drill at the start of the one-week camp in November.

This bodes well for Chambers, as he would like to forge a name for himself in the NFL and gain confidence in a new sport. The odds are highly stacked against him, but he's giving it a go.

BBC accurately reported that Chambers will need far more than raw pace if he is to fulfil his initial ambition of becoming a wide receiver for one of the five NFL Europe teams, as catching skills, strength, determination, teamwork and tactical appreciation all count equally into the total package exhibited by the best NFL players.

Whether or not Chambers makes a successful journey to the NFL, he vows to return to the track.

"Part of my mind is saying, 'leave track alone' but it is not the wise thing to do. If it doesn’t work out in Tampa, I’ve time for track this summer," he is quoted as saying in the Daily Mail (2006-December-29).

"I plan to come back to track regardless. It’s something I still believe I have a passion for. At the moment, I don’t but I will in time."

Chambers has a great support system behind him, having his mother, Adlith and his partner, Leone backing him as he continues forward from a past filled with a commitment to excellence, but also a past which crossed over to a darker period he'd just as soon forget.

Of Leone, he states: "If I didn’t [listen to her], I’d get my ear chewed. And then I speak to Jonathan and he brings a whole different perspective to it. It’s tough because I am used to doing everything my way."

Chambers opens up candidly about his mother.

"She always said, 'be careful what you do', and then for her to have to go out still holding her head up when people made comments … that’s hard on her.

"She was fantastic. In her mind, as long as I am okay, she is okay. She always says what people write in the papers are just words. Mind, I only showed her positive stuff in papers. Mothers don’t understand negative stuff, do they?

"She’s strong and she has her church and that kept her uplifted a lot, and during that time I kept with her a lot which helped put her mind at ease, and now she gets to see my son a lot which takes her mind off the other things."

Being a team-player - one who does things the coach's way - is one characteristic NFL scouts will look for in Chambers and his rookie class next week. If he's successful there, his wait on hearing if he is one of 80 players selected for a camp in Florida in March will be duly rewarded.

If Chambers can make a successful leap between the two sports and become an NFL player, the only thing he'll have to do is explain to his mother why those big, helmeted men are running as fast as possible to knock Chambers off his feet.

Click here for a link to NFL Europe.

NB (2007-January-16): Video Q&A With BBC (link)

From Threads to Riches

Story written by EPelle

Have you ever considered what it may be like to spiral down the totem poll?

Dwain Chambers and Justin Gatlin find themselves there at this very moment - and have actually for some time.

They were once enamored with praise, showered with money, and fed monstrous amounts of respect for being the quickest down a small piece of real estate, 100 metres to be exact.

Now, each has his sites set on performing in front of other crowds, for more money, and for a different type of esteem, namely that of being an NFL star.

Chambers was caught up in the BALCO affair, and accepted his two-year banishment from the sport in 2004. I caught up with him in Göteborg in August - his first major championship since his return this season, and had two very good conversations with him.

I like the guy. He's personable, he's funny, he's approachable, and he's shown an interest in not just continuing to explain the same old story he's told for the past 30 months, but to face the fact that people look at him differently than before.

Steroids talk didn't get old with Chambers when I brought up the subject in August after stopping him a second time for a quick photo along the service road between the warm-up track and Ullevi Stadium where the European Championships were taking place. I kept the focus off of his expulsion, and asked him questions about Gatlin and the entire drugs mess within athletics. He was honest about his situation - so honest, that he signed an autograph for a fan who stuck her program in front of him during our discussion with his name, and "9,96" under it. (Read further: Chambers comes clean)

"It is now," he said of his personal best, and chuckled.

Gatlin is traveling down a similar road.

He's been on top, over the top, and has fallen beyond the extended public grace extended for certain crimes of conscious. He's been busted for performance-enhancing drugs.

Friends and family have stood by his side since his inner circle decided to reveal the positive testosterone - or precursor - in July, but the public has grown faint and weary of another story of good guy turned bad through his own fault or not.

Gatlin, as is Chambers, is on the bottom of the list of influentials - those notable somebodies the rest of us had no business pretending to be. He was once perched so high up in his own postal code that the only person who was even in the neighbourhood was Asafa Powell - an athlete who had already occupied space there, and had twice tried kicking Gatlin off the block, so to speak.

Both athletes face their own athletics hurdles, though in the absense of the Gatlin verdict, it is noticeably Chambers who will have the easier ride should he continue to steer his athletics course.

Chambers faces a very formidable foe in having to repay the IAAF a substantial amount of prize money (thought to be £180,000) he collected while competing as a doped athlete - a period between the beginning of 2002 and his positive test in August 2003.

He was welcomed back to compete for England this year, and made waves at both the Super League and European Championships. He's taken some lumps, however, from teammates who have continued to express bitterness over losing out on the 2003 IAAF World Championships 4x100m silver medal.

He will never be allowed to participate in a future Olympic Games, and he will always carry with him a stigma as a cheat in other athletes' minds.

Gatlin has kept his athletics profile as low as it can go - nearly obsolete - as he has prepared his defense of his second positive drugs test in his career. You know the story well. He may (or not) gain a special circumstances exception to his drugs test, and it seems he has kept his options open to other earning potential - the NFL being the most lucrative opportunity should he find a suitor willing to take a gamble on a man who hasn't played the sport since high school.

Chambers and Gatlin are two men who have burned up the track, collected a share of high-value medals, and have either been world-record holders or in races where world-records were set. Chambers, oddly enough, was in the world-record race when Tim Montgomery ran 9,78 in Paris three years ago - a time which would later be annulled from the record books due to Montgomery's drugs use and connection to the same BALCO mess which snared Chambers.

It seems fitting that both athletes have turned over one leaf for the prospect of gaining attention and a roster spot in an even higher-profile sport, the NFL.

Gatlin has worked out for the Houston Texans and the Arizona Cardinals, though neither team has been thought to be considering him for service.

Gatlin may have to continue shopping his talents around, and perhaps hope his agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, can utilise any remaining influence he may have remaining in the sport he played from 1982 - 1984.

BBC Sport on Thursday, 2006-December-14 that Chambers had toughed it up, worked out hard, and showed a lot of determination in front of coaches at the NFL Europe training camp in Cologne, Germany, and may have considerably more opportunity as he is invited back to a second round of workouts.

If Chambers makes it through that he will join a six-week camp in Florida which could see him drafted to one of six teams: Amsterdam Admirals, Berlin Thunder, Cologne Centurions, Frankfurt Galaxy, Hamburg Sea Devils or Rhein Fire.

Whether they are here or there, going deep or slanting to the right, two grown men are at crossroads in their lives, and are entertaining sports which may give them excellent salaries, but much shorter careers.

Any career at this point in time would be longer than the prospect of waiting eight years to walk like an Olympian in Gatlin's case, and never again setting in the Olympic blocks for Chambers.

Though Chambers will never wear the Union Jack at an Olympic Games, UK Athletics Performance Director Dave Collins insists Chambers could still have an international athletics career.

Regardless of which paths they choose to take, I wish them both the utmost success as they climb back up the wooden pole to a place where they both feel comfortable with their free time activities. With any luck, Gatlin may get picked up as a reserve. Even better, I'd like to see him up and move to Europe where an NFL Europe game featuring two of the fastest sprinters in the league lay down historical receiving numbers which will only be exceeded by their next meeting. And next. And so forth.

That woman who snuck in that arm during my conversation should keep that autograph in a safe spot. Chambers may light it up on the field here in Europe, and the next time she sees us talking, she can stick the other arm in there and ask how fast Chambers can run a 40.

Alas, I can then say more positive things about that young man who took time to chat with a complete stranger about some very personal Fort Knox feelings and gave me some feel good stuff to hang out there on the internet.

Further reading:

• I'm still on track, insists Chambers