Dwain Anthony Chambers (born 5 April 1978) is an English sprinter of Afro-Caribbean descent. His primary event is the 100 metres sprint but he also regularly runs in the 60 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 metres relay. Chambers has won medals on the international stage numerous times and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history of recorded athletics. His personal best of 9.97 seconds in the 100 m is the second fastest time by a British sprinter. He also holds the European 4x100 m relay record with 37.73 s. In 1997, Chambers set the junior world record for the 100 m at 10.06 s. It has since been surpassed.
Chambers’ first appearance at the Olympics was at the Sydney 2000 Games where he turned in the best 100 m performance by a European at the event. By 2001, he had become the top British sprinter, breaking the 10 second barrier twice at the Edmonton World Championships. However, in October 2003, he tested positive for the banned steroid THG in a drugs check, leading to the BALCO scandal. Chambers received a two-year athletics ban, and a lifetime Olympic ban. He had all of his racing accomplishments since 2002 annulled, wiping away his European record.
Chambers returned to the track and field circuit in June 2006, and won gold with his teammates in the 4x100 m at the 2006 European Championships but a feud with Darren Campbell tainted the victory. Disillusioned with athletics, Chambers joined the Hamburg Sea Devils of the NFL Europa league in early 2007. After the league folded, Chambers returned to sprinting, winning a silver medal in the 60 m at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships, and filed unsuccessful appeals of his Olympic ban. He briefly looked to rugby league as an alternative to the hostility he faced from fans and peers in athletics, but his trial with the Castleford Tigers was unsuccessful. He has since returned to sprinting, and on 8 August 2008, signed a deal with Libros International to write an autobiography.
Dwain is now also busy with the Second Chance Academy. The Second Chance Academy has been set up with Dwain to offer youths from London the opportunity to have a second chance in life.
Dwain Chambers - ‘Race Against Me’ is published by Libros International and will be available from all good book shops from March 2nd 2009 priced £18.99.
