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aren't you forgetting Dwayne Chambers?

im sure he has a better chance than Williamson, or are going to continue to over look him just because of a mistake made years ago?

Katharine and I discussed Chambers at length before she wrote this blog and we decided to save that whole issue until after the weekend, waiting to see how he does but also until the full publication of his book next Monday.

The Chambers saga has rumbled for months and we thought it would be better to talk about other issues in athletics.

What do you make of the dramatic improvement in form by Williamson and Farah? And what else will you be watching this weekend?

Good article, could it be that after relatively poor olympics last season the time away was just what the doctor ordered?

Not only would it be a change in scenary but a complete change in culture and also the chance to train with some seriously world class athletes! That must give you such a mental boost and should leave them in good shape for the outdoor season

It's good to see them rejuvinated, whatever the reasons and I hope they bring back medals in the euros

Didn't Natasha Danvers spend most of last winter season training in America?

Dwain also set a recent PB, but does anyone know where he's been training recently? If it's at home it would provide an interesting contrast.

This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.

exactly my point, Dwain is the most probable person to get a medal, and if he isnt mentioned in this article for training abroad then he must be training in the U.K and so this article has no real proof of worth, but we can wait and see after this weekend, i hope to be proven wrong

Not every article need to mention Chambers either in a positive or negative light.

The Fonz, as for Natasha Danvers, she lives and trains in the US and has done so for a long time.

The article is a very valid one, the benefits of training with someone the calibre of Asafa Powell can only help someone of such a young age and good luck to all of them in the championships.

UKA have streamlined their funding of our elite athletes since the Olympiuc disappointment. This, surely, should enable our best like Mo and Simeon to take advantage of the best conditions and also the opportunity to train alongside the likes of Asafa Powell and gain the belief in themselves that they can compete with these global stars. I am sure Charles VC will be keeping an eye on their performances and, if they work, he should reinforce this success.

I couldn't agree more with poshworldcupfan:

"and if he isnt mentioned in this article for training abroad then he must be training in the U.K and so this article has no real proof of worth"

That is utter sense.

Writing about Chambers doesn't have to mean writing about his past. In fact, if journalists like yourselves want to get away from the Chambers saga why don't you stop mentioning his past mistakes every time you mention him.

e.g. stop doing things like this: "Chambers, who tested positive for a banned substance in 2003, is a favourite to win gold."

You've done it again this morning!!!

"Dwain Chambers, whose revelations in his forthcoming autobiography have overshadowed the build-up, was the quickest qualifier in 6.53 seconds. "



Martin Gough "The Chambers saga has rumbled for months and we thought it would be better to talk about other issues in athletics."

Rubbish.

There seem to be a few strange people on this blog that want to comment, but don't seem to have read the initial article.
Unless I am sorely mistaken the article is about 2 young promising british athletes who have improved their times in conjunction with training abroad.
Unless Dwain has changed his name to Mo or Simeon by depole, I fail to see where he fits into this article and why is he being mentioned.
poshworldcupfan and flemuk should wait until an article does come up about Chambers and write on that.
Also what's this about Christie being involved with Victor Conte??
I have never ever heard that ever before?
So those that moan about Chambers name being mentioned all the time, stop bringing it up then in articles that have nothing to do with him.

Apologises to flemuk, i meant thefonz and poshworld cup fan.....:)

Just read Katharine's post and i do love it when 5live commentators/contributors who use whole programmes to make callers be controversial react when their views are challenged! However I think she was right to leave Chambers out of her original article, after all 5live have spent the last 10 days bringing him back into the fold and publicising his book (thanks for another couple of mentions on here!) Any time not mentioning Dwain has been spent on the cocaine using Rugby player being 'interrogated' by his mate! Just like John Humphreys - not!
You can just see it now can't you. Rooney gets done and the ´óÏó´«Ã½ get Beckham to do the interview!!

Katherine, to answer your question, dwain is rapidly becoming most famous for being unjustly persecuted by the uk athletics establishment, despite the fact he is running clean and is amongst the worlds best.

He cheated, he was caught and he was punished. Do you think it just that someone who took a wrong turn at the age of 23 should be punished indefinitely, especially when it was clear that a substantial number of his peers in the sprinting world took exactly the same path and were caught? You only have to look at the world of tour cycling to realize that few elite athletes are saints and the only deterrent to drug cheating is a foolproof testing regime. I'm sorry if that cold harsh reality is demotivating to a young athlete, but it's unfortunately a cold harsh and competitive world when a lifetimes work and millions are at stake.

The media and Uk athletics should move on and let chambers reach his full, clean potential on the olympic stage. I am sure Chambers would do better to endear himself to others by showing more contrition, but a just outcome for dwain should not have to depend on that. He is a bad boy, for sure, who also has an uncanny knack of putting his foot in his mouth. But he is an athlete first and foremost who deserves his second chance. Those that truly value athletics would give him that chance.

yr

Katharine:

I am also glad that GB Stars are also coming back from the cold...

~Dennis Junior~

I have been an athlete for 45 yrs and am sick of all the coverage given to Dwain Chambers ..... when he took drugs it was NOT a mistake ..... if he hadn't got caught he would STILL be taking them make no mistake about that. He (and others) is a cheat who has disgraced a clean honest sport and I personally would not race him in a village green event. As for still being allowed to wear a British vest it is DISGRACEFUL ..... who are these people running UK Athletics ? We must stand up for the future of athletics ...... once you cheat there is no way back to a British vest.
Tough luck Mr Chambers you knew the consequences.

With the benefit of hindsight the title of this piece could well have been applicable to Dwain Chambers - except i suppose he is still out in the cold. What interests me is what is driving him to the level of success he is having. Clearly he is a gifted athlete but we have plenty of gifted individuals who do not succeed.

The results from the weekend, with a couple of notable exceptions, were disappointing. The charge that is levelled is that in the cosseted world of professional athletics and national funding, our athletes do not have the hunger and mental strength to push themselves from the realms of the gifted to the exceptional. Dwain Chambers seems to have everything against him. The athletes don't want him around, the governing bodies have either banned him or find every excuse to keep him at arms length and yet he keeps coming back for more. It might be easier and more palatable for him to fade into history but he seems hell bent on rewriting his history and proving everyone wrong. It would be easy again to consign him to the past if he wasn't having success, but he is and he keeps getting better. Could it be that the self-inflicted adversity that he is subject to is giving him the mental steel and bloody minded will to win?

I also reflect on the philosophy of cheating in sport. I believe that any sportsman who is driven to their sport through a competitive nature and a will to win will have "cheated" at some point. I don't mean, of course, that they will have taken banned substances or deliberately sabbotaged their opposition. But they will have done everything in their power to have gained an advantage. In team sport, where i have my background, infringement of the rules is a tactic and teams can win or lose as a result. Its a risk you take. I just wonder if ostracising all cheats really makes a difference and if in fact there is room for a redemptive process to make amends. I am assuming in this that Chambers is now running clean. If he is, then perhaps he can provide proof to young athletes that the percieved advantages of chemical performance enhancements are not so great. And that when talent is backed up by commitment and a granite faced self belief that nothing will get in your way, then success will come.

Just a thought.

Katherine,

The point I was making is more aimed at the post by Martin Gough

If you don't want the Chambers saga to roll on then stop mentioning it every time you run a story on him (regardless of what he is most famous for- you're in control of what is written after all not us)

I don't think Dwain Chambers name will ever escape association with drugs, which is entirely his own fault, but don't exclude him from relevant articles because of the circus that goes around with him (for which the ´óÏó´«Ã½, amongst many other media institutions and journalists, is responsible for- good or bad, warranted or not)

Even though the article specifically reviews Williamson and Farah, Chambers (amongst other athletes) can be just as relevant to it and Martin Gough's comments suggest that he was excluded because "The Chambers saga has rumbled for months and we thought it would be better to talk about other issues in athletics."- fine, don’t mention his drugs just talk about his athletics. If you are not going to place this article in a wider context i.e. by comparing Williamson and Farah with other athletes to see if their training has actually made a difference, then surely it’s a bit pointless?

On a side note I am sure even the most anti-chambers people would be interested in how a 30 year old sprinter is running faster than he was when he was 23 and taking performance enhancing drugs (well apart from those with a blind hatred of him!)

For the record I think he has undone a lot of the hardwork he put into rebuilding his career/image by releasing this book now.

"I'm Katharine Merry, former world 400m number one ..."

When were you world number one for 400m?

It is vitaly important to preserve a means of redemption, however difficult that is. Not to do so destroys all hope. If athletics is your whole life, there must be a way back from transient human error. It should not be impossible to work out a way to do this, whilst preserving a justly censorious attitude to cheating.
I apologise that this has nothing to do with training abroad, but the issue has arisen in this discussion and its resolution is of fundamental importance.
GC

It does depend on the weather for star athletes to train in good conditions, but it does infuse self-confidence and self-belief if the young sports star is recognized by sports talent scouts and trained in an environment that is suitable for their skills.