One of the dirtiest insults an athlete can receive is an accusation of cheating by drug use. Almost everyone who is busted for steroid use never makes it back to the elite level again. Dwain Chambers, a British sprinter, is the only person to make a comeback with any sort of success. Which, to me, is ironic. It’s ironic, but in a good way.
One can see the greatest irony in that Chambers admitted to doping more than anyone else in athletics history. He admitted to using over six different types of banned substances. Most drug cheaters admit only to the one they were caught taking. He owned up to all, and he wrote a book describing his drug use in great detail. Marion Jones denied ever knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs even after she got out of jail.
While every other athlete has either minimized the extent of their drug use or continued in denial, Chambers shouldered the burden, served his time and started running again. He refused to let his past that had the opportunity to become detrimental to his career—to overshadow and stop all that is good in track and field.
That’s the difference between Chambers and Jones. Chambers can look at himself in the mirror. When Marion Jones was named a drug cheat in the 2001 BALCO scandal she threatened to sue anyone she could. She denied in vehemently.
And then the facts came to light. She admitted to the use of performance enhancing drugs in a guilty letter to a friend who turned her in. She couldn’t live with herself. Now Jones tries to downplay her steroid use. Instead of downplaying, Chambers wants to inspire others to not use.
At the age of 31, Chambers just recently set a European record for the indoor 60-meter dash (and beating his old mark that he set while on his cocktail of performance enhancing drugs). Chambers is the most vehemently hated athlete on the British team. In fact, several respected members of British administration just want him to go away.
However, I hope Chambers can endure the heat. He can never do anything in athletics again without people questioning whether or not he is using. But I think there is a valuable lesson Chambers is teaching. He had every reason to give up running. But he didn’t. I can’t think of a single person with so many forces working against him who has had successes comparable to his.
This is a man who can show people that just because you make a mistake doesn’t mean you have to spend the rest of your life cowering because of it. It goes back to the age-old idea that everyone, despite status and celebrity, makes mistakes. Sure, probably not as big of a mistake as Chambers, but still mistakes.
Whether the mistakes are professionally, academically, personally, relationally or any other aspect of human life they usually affect the way other people view us. But as people we shouldn’t let that mistake us stop us, should we?
If not, why should we not grant Dwain Chambers his second chance. Giving a second chance does not mean getting a free ride. We should still drug test him constantly but until he fails another drug test why not root for him? Surely we can all find it in our hearts to forgive or at least to be forgiven. Chambers has forgiven himself. We might as well too.