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Athletics

Chambers' acceptance branded 'terrible for athletics'

13/02/2008

The news of Dwain Chambers' acceptance into the British team for next month's World Indoor Championships has created reaction all around the sporting world.

Lord Coe, double Olympic gold medallist, said he was "uncomfortable" with the inclusion and claimed that athletics cannot survive any more high-profile cases like this.

"What happened in the last five years is not sustainable on a consistent basis. These days there are no unhappy circumstances where athletes don't know what they're doing," he said.

Coe said UK Athletics had no choice but to pick him due to legal issues that may have arisen from excluding Chambers.

Another double Olympic gold medallist, Dame Kelly Holmes, said that the sprinter should not be allowed on the team.

"It doesn't put us in a good light allowing a cheat, who has admitted he's a cheat, to represent us," she said.

Roger Black, a 400m silver medallist, said the move was "terrible" for the sport but recognised that legally he had to be accepted.

"He had a pretty strong case so he is playing within the rules of the sport," Black said.

"As we know, the sport has to try and get those rules changed - but it's a terrible thing for the sport because this is going to go on and on and on."

John Regis, Chambers' former agent, said that UK Athletics should have acted sooner to prevent the sprinter being included.

"If they didn't want a banned athlete to come back they had the chance to change their selection policy and their criteria," he told Setanta Sports.

"I can understand their annoyance but the reality is that he's served his ban."