Chambers

LONDON (AP):

DESPITE BEING banned from the Olympics for life for doping, British sprinter Dwain Chambers is on a mission to return to the track.

The 30-year-old Chambers, who served a two-year ban after testing positive for the steroid THG in August 2003, spoke before a doping conference in London yesterday and then faced students at an Oxford University forum.

Chambers lost a High Court ruling in July to let him compete in the 100 metres at the Beijing Olympics, but Christine Ohuruogu, who missed three out-of-competition doping tests, took gold in the 400 after successfully overturning the British Olympic Association's lifetime ban on athletes guilty of such violations.

"We fought to the bitter end because I thought I deserved a second chance, considering that Christine was banned and she became an Olympic and world champion," Chambers said yesterday at the World Sports Law Report's 'Tackling Doping in Sport'.

"I made a mistake and want to turn things around ... now I just want to get back on the rostrum again and hopefully be invited to British meets."

Chambers said his transgressions have weighed heavily in his personal life, with his partner having to fund his legal challenges and his son "getting stress at nursery because of it".