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Athletics

Chambers 'could be stripped of medals'

12/12/2005

Disgraced British sprinter Dwain Chambers could be stripped of all medals won since 2002, athletics authorities have warned.

The 27-year-old has already been stripped of his silver medal in the 4x100m relay at the 2003 world championships and served a two-year suspension after testing positive for the banned steroid THG in the summer of 2003.

However, in an interview at the weekend, he admitted to using the banned substance for 18 months before being caught.

And this has prompted the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) to warn that it will investigate these latest claims and could strip Chambers of all medals won since he began using the substance in 2002.

"We have a rule that says an athlete who admits to having used drugs can, for eight years after it happened, have his results annulled from every meeting," IAAF secretary Istvan Gyulai, said.

"We must be certain that what has been said amounts to a real admission but certainly there will be a further investigation."

If the IAAF chooses to apply the rule, Chambers would lose his 2002 European championships 100m individual and relay gold medals.

He would also see his British 100m record time of 9.87 seconds wiped from the record books and have all future titles and times invalidated until 2010.

Chambers told a BBC interviewer over the weekend: "I started taking [THG] when I went to America at the beginning of 2002.

"In hindsight I was very foolish not to ask certain questions about THG, but no-one had ever heard of it before, so I didn't see any reason to questions it."

Chambers started taking the banned substance after coming into contact with the now infamous Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (Balco), whose owner Victor Conte is currently in prison for supplying THG.

If the IAAF decides to take further action over the comments, Great Britain team-mates Christian Malcolm, Marlon Devonish and Darren Campbell could all also lose their 2002 relay golds.

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