Should Dwain Chambers be allowed to compete on the international stage despite his previous use of performance enhancing drugs and the UK Athletics tough stance on doping?
According to the IAAF, then yes, he should be allowed to compete. This is a huge blow to the strict UKA anti-doping policies that they are trying to enforce.
There are rules in place for when an athlete claims retirement to avoid drug testing so that they can not easily return to the sport. However, Dwain Chambers never actually claimed that he had retired. The UKA only assumed that he had when he began playing American football and stopped testing him.
The IAAF have ruled that it was through no fault of his own that he hasn’t been drug tested for the past year and that the UKA has no legal grounds for denying his right to compete.
Dwain Chambers was the face of British sprinting back in late 2002 before he was implicated in the BALCO scandal. Whether he is allowed to compete in international competition or not, he not eligible without appealing to the British legal system to represent the UK in the Olympics.
(Source: Inside the Games.com – Photo Credit: Wikipedia)
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