Dwain Chambers

Dwain Anthony Chambers (born 5 April 1978) 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 fifth on the British all-time list. He is the 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 world medallist 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. 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 (after Linford Christie) 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.

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
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