Neither he nor fellow Briton Mark Lewis-Francis won the race, as Jordan Vaden, a 27-year-old American, triumphed in 10.39sec. Lewis-Francis was second in 10.41, with Chambers third in 10.43. Though the biggest cheers were reserved for Darren Campbell, in a special ceremony to celebrate his achievements now he has retired, there was something almost contradictory about listening to Chambers.
On a weekend in which Marion Jones’s positive test has brought a new cloud over the sport, the rain began to fall as Chambers virtually insisted all was well with athletics. “It feels good to be back here,” he said. “I have paid my dues and I believe the crowd are forgiving. To come out here today is a great feeling. The sport has to be patient because it is going through a time where it is being cleaned up, so to speak. It is unfortunate that all the top athletes are falling like flies. All you can do now is be patient and get the sport back on a level playing field. There is a brighter future. But there is not much advice I can give.”
Six days earlier in Gothenburg, Chambers’ presence in the 4x100m relay team that won gold at the European championships sparked the drama of Campbell refusing to go on a lap of honour. He complained that he was not happy with Chambers’ apology because he had not “exposed the people” who had sent him to America in 2003, which led to his positive test for the steroid THG.
Campbell and Chambers were due to run again here together yesterday, but the week’s events changed that. Campbell chose to retire after a low-key 100m near Falkirk on Thursday, and though he was here as a guest, Chambers has not spoken to him.
“That is a dead subject,” said Chambers. “I don’t understand why he wants to bring up old dirt. He is entitled to his own opinion.”
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Chambers will not name any other names. “I am the only cheat, there is nobody else,” he added. “I was the one who made the decision to go out there (to America) and do what I did. That is it. There is no one else to blame.”
Chambers’ return to the sport after his two-year ban saw him return with a time of 10.07sec in Gateshead in June, but since then he has not run anywhere near as fast and finished seventh in Gothenburg. But he will be back. “I can run as fast in the future as I have in the past,” he added. “My body has not adjusted to the competition because I have been away for two-and-a-half years.”
While so much of what British athletes do now has a target of London 2012, here was a rare chance to see some of the stars who could feature in the next Olympics in Beijing in 2008. China made up the quartet of teams here — Britain, Russia and the USA were the others — though not with quite the full squad they wanted because a number of them could not gain visas to be here.
One name to remember might be China’s Ning Ma, who won the javelin with a throw of 59.74m. Britain’s Goldie Sayers was third with 58.10m. But perhaps the most intriguing race on this first afternoon of a two-day competition was the women’s 1500m, which Russia’s Olga Yegorova won in 4min 9.53sec. In 2001, she was temporarily suspended after testing positive for EPO but was allowed to run at the world championships in Edmonton, where she won the 5,000m. Five years on, another champion in Marion Jones has allegedly been caught with the same substance in her system while Yegorova wins here. Chambers says the future is bright. Perhaps the sport needs to reserve judgment on that.