Dwain Chambers
Dwain Anthony Chambers is a British track sprinter. He has won international medals at World and European levels and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history of athletics. His primary event is the 100 metres, with a best of 9.97 seconds, which ranks him equal 9th on the British all-time list. He is the former European record holder for the 60 metres and 4 × 100 metres relay events with 6.42 seconds and 37.73 s respectively.
Chambers ran a 100 m world junior record of 10.06 s in 1997 and became the youngest ever medalist in the event at the 1999 World Championships, taking the bronze. On his Olympic début at the 2000 Sydney Olympics he was the best European performer in fourth place. He broke the 10-second barrier twice at the 2001 World Championships. In 2003 he received a two-year athletics ban after testing positive for THG, a banned performance-enhancing drug and was stripped of the 100 m European title and record he achieved in 2002.
Chambers returned to competition in June 2006 and won gold with his teammates in the 4 × 100 m at the 2006 European Championships. He tried other sports, including a spell with the Hamburg Sea Devils of the NFL Europa league and a rugby league trial with Castleford. Sprinting success came over 60 m when he won silver at the 2008 World Indoor Championships, gold at the 2009 European Indoors, and became world champion at the 2010 World Indoor Championships.
Due to his doping ban, he was barred from the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, and much of the European racing circuit, from 2006 to 2012. The Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned his lifetime Olympic ban, deeming it non-compliant with the World Anti-Doping Code, and he competed in the 2012 London Olympics. He produced a ghost-written autobiography with writer Ken Scott, Race Against Me, in 2009.
Still competing at the age of 45, he set a new indoor M45 60 m world record and reached the semi-finals in the UK Athletics Indoor Championships. Outside of Athletics, he is an athletics coach and public speaker.
He is of Afro-Caribbean- Jamaican descent and has two sons with his partner Leonie Daley.
Biography
Early life and career
Chambers was born in Islington, and raised in Finsbury Park, London. Running was a part of his family life: his older sister Christine won the senior 100 metres Finals at the English Schools Championships in 1986 and 1987 and competed in the European Athletics Junior Championships. As a schoolboy he was coached by Selwyn Philbert who devoted himself to the young sprinter. Chambers first athletic success came at the 1994 English Schools' Athletic Association Championships, where he won the boys' intermediate 100 m race with a time of 10.64 seconds. International medals followed at the 1995 European Junior Championships, at which he won the 100 m and the 4 × 100 metres relay. He defended these titles at the 1997 European Junior Championships, and set a then world junior record in the 100 m with a time of 10.06 s.Chambers transitioned into the senior ranks soon after, taking the 100 m silver medal behind his British teammate Darren Campbell at the 1998 European Championships. He achieved a new personal best in September at the 1998 IAAF World Cup with a run of 10.03 s for third place and won a relay gold medal. At the 1998 Commonwealth Games he was a 100 m semi finalist and set a games record as part of the 4 × 100 m relay team. His ability attracted the attention of former sprinter and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Mike McFarlane, who became his coach. He came first in the 100 m in the 1999 European Cup, then at a meet in Nuremberg he became only the second European sprinter to break the ten second barrier with a time of 9.99 s. Fellow British sprinter Jason Gardener scored a time of 9.98 s in Lausanne soon after, becoming the third Briton to break the barrier. In spite of this, Chambers remained some distance behind his North American counterparts in terms of times.
Seville World Championships to Sydney Olympics
In his first major outing on the world stage, Chambers attained a new personal best at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, registering a time of 9.97 s for third place in the 100 m final. This made the 21-year-old the youngest ever World Championships 100 m medallist. North Americans dominated the event as Maurice Greene and Bruny Surin took first and second place respectively, with record runs of 9.80 s and 9.84 s, respectively. The British sprint team Chambers, Gardener, Campbell and Marlon Devonish performed well in the 4 × 100 metres relay event as runners-up in a time of 37.73 s behind the US team led by Greene. World record holder Maurice Greene was hitting his peak, winning three gold medals in Seville. However, at 21 years old, Chambers had achieved more than Greene had at that age: Greene's best was 10.08 s in 1996 and he had never reached a major final.With the 2000 Sydney Olympics approaching, Chambers studied the technique of other sprinters. In an interview with BBC journalist Tom Fordyce, Chambers commented on the stamina Greene and Surin had gained from running in the 200 metres event and Jason Gardener's improved acceleration through running the 60 metres event. He experimented with distances at the beginning of 2000, sprinting over 50, 60 and 200 m in various competitions. He set a personal best of 6.55 s in the 60 m event in Ghent in February. A hamstring injury caused him to miss six-weeks of training and when he returned his 100 m performances were lacklustre. He finished ninth at the Golden Gala in Rome with a slow time of 10.41 s and was seventh in a tame 10.30 s at the London Grand Prix, results that led him to consider quitting the season altogether. A late rejuvenation at the British Olympic trials guaranteed his selection as he snatched first place with 10.11 s. Victory against in-form world record holder Maurice Greene in Gateshead raised Chambers' confidence and he stated his aim to take home a medal from the Games.
The 2000 Sydney Olympics saw Chambers come close to the podium. He easily qualified through the heat stages and achieved a season's best of 10.08 s in the 100 m final finishing fourth behind Greene, Ato Boldon and Obadele Thompson. Chambers was the best European 100 m performer, but after disqualification in the relay heats he left the games without a medal.
Edmonton World championships
He made his fastest opening to a season in 2001 by winning the 100 m for his club Belgrave Harriers at the European Clubs Cup with a meet record time of 10.12 s. At the Amateur Athletics Association trials in Birmingham his run of 10.01 s was the fastest ever wind-legal time recorded in Britain by a British sprinter. Chambers ran with consistency in the summer of 2001: he won at the Seville Grand Prix in 10.01 s and finished third in ten seconds flat at the Athletissima meet. In the run up to the 2001 IAAF Edmonton World Championships Chambers compared his own performances to the British record holder: "I am very consistent in the 10.00s this year, and that bodes well for the Worlds. If you are running as fast as Linford Christie in his prime, it gives you a lot of confidence."Chambers also competed over 200 m and a personal best run of 20.31 s earned him selection in both sprints for the World Championships. In an interview with Tom Fordyce, Chambers stated that Maurice Greene's strong presence and mind games undermined the competition both physically and mentally. "You have to get out in front of him and hold on for dear life" he said of the world record holder.
Chambers broke the ten second barrier twice in the 2001 World Championships with a personal best of 9.97 s in the quarter-finals and a run of 9.99 s in the final. This was not enough for a medal in a strong race which featured five sprinters running under ten seconds and saw Greene defend his title. Chambers was later upgraded to fourth place after silver medallist Tim Montgomery tested positive for banned substances. A hamstring injury in the final ruled him out of the 200 m event. Chambers ended his season at the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, and finished in first place in the absence of an injured Greene, who commentated on his European rival's victory.
2002 European champion
Chambers' coach Mike McFarlane struggled with the workload of full-time training. Frustrated by the distance between himself and the top sprinters, Chambers decided to relocate to California to work with Ukrainian coach Remi Korchemny and nutritionist Victor Conte. After parting ways with American sprinter Tim Montgomery, Conte looked to Chambers to fill the athlete's berth. In the run up to the year's major events, Chambers was in fine form and recorded a 200 m personal best of 20.27 s in Athens on 10 June 2002. Montgomery, impressed by Chambers' training regime, tipped the Briton to win the gold at the forthcoming 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England.He won the 100 m at the Commonwealth Games trials in a season's best of 10.03 s, then equalled Linford Christie's record of 10.04 s at European Cup, where he led the British team to victory as team captain. Victories over Maurice Greene followed at Oslo's IAAF Golden League meeting and in Sheffield with a wind-assisted 9.95 s. He was the favourite for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, but Chambers faced stiff competition from British newcomer Mark Lewis-Francis who was finishing fractions of a second behind him. Chambers won all his preliminary races and reached the final, along with Lewis-Francis and Jason Gardener, but he suffered a cramp mid-race and ended up in last place. The English sprinters had the three slowest times in the final, with Lewis-Francis also beset by injury.
After Commonwealth disappointment on home turf, Chambers won gold medals in the 100 m and 4 × 100 m relay at the 2002 European Championships in Munich, setting a championship record of 9.96 s. Chambers recorded a time of 9.94 s at the Weltklasse Zürich meeting, again beating world record holder Greene. He finished the season by equalling Linford Christie's European record at the 2002 IAAF Grand Prix Final. His run of 9.87 s with a maximum allowable wind of +2.0 m/s left him second to Tim Montgomery, who set a world record of 9.78 s. Chambers received the 2002 European Athlete of the Year trophy for his achievements on the track that year.