Revived Chambers happy to be back in embrace of GB

The controversial sprinter was the pariah of British athletics after he tested positive in 2003 for the steroid THG and was banned for two years, and for a long time after his return to the sport.

Now a reformed character with a rebuilt reputation, who goes into schools to talk to children about the dangers of drugs in sport, the 34-year-old tried to avoid Armstrong’s interview with Oprah Winfrey in which he finally admitted to doping during all seven of his Tour de France victories. After all, Chambers does not need any reminders of his own past mistakes.

But he reckons the Texan, stripped of his Yellow Jerseys by the International Cycling Union, will feel better for coming clean.

“Anyone that’s done wrong in their life and been found (out) for doing wrong, you would think that they would want to feel happier in just being honest about it,” said Chambers. “I don’t know the full circumstances behind it – I only hear what I hear on the radio and I think, ‘Okay, I know what that’s like’. But I’ve just thought, ‘That’s his time now’. I’ve got to focus on my lane and stay in that.

“I hear it and I think, ‘I’m glad it’s not me’. I’ve been there, done it, so I know what he could possibly be going through. I do hope people will forgive and forget.”

Almost a decade on from that failed test, Chambers now finally feels accepted back into the fold of British athletics. He competed at the London Olympics after the British Olympic Association’s lifetime ban on drug cheats was overturned and finally has a coach in the form of Loughborough-based American Rana Reider.

The sprinter spends two-week stints in Loughborough, away from his wife and young family, to focus on getting the most out of what is left of his career.

He won his first race since the Olympics at the British Athletics Glasgow International Match at the Emirates Arena on Saturday, clocking 6.58 seconds over 60 metres, one of only two British winners along with Holly Bleasdale in the pole vault – the hosts finishing third in the five-team event.

Elsewhere, Dai Greene finished second in the 600m ahead of fellow Briton Andrew Osagie. An injury-hampered Yamile Aldamagot the British team off to a less than auspicious start by finishing last in the triple jump.

Margaret Adeoye and Conrad Williams were second and third in the men’s and women’s 200m respectively with Serita Soloman and Gianni Frankis third and fourth in the 60m hurdles. Perri Shakes-Drayton, the 400m hurdler, was second over 400m flat.

Overall, Russia won the tournament from the USA, with Germany fourth and a Commonwealth select team fifth.