The 46-year-old sprinter explains why he nonetheless enjoys racing after being voted AW masters male athlete of 2024
When Dwain Chambers settled into his blocks at the beginning of the 60m ultimate within the M45 age group on the European Masters Championships in Poland this 12 months, he felt as nervous as ever. At his peak, he gained world and European indoor titles in 2009 and 2010 over the identical distance, but racing towards fellow veteran sprinters in Poland, he was the big-name athlete whose scalp everybody wished.
“I took it very significantly as a result of I knew I may lose,” he says. “I used to be two or three metres forward on paper however I nonetheless needed to go in and put together the identical approach. I knew I couldn’t slip up, as one of many different Brits would steal my glory. They had been elevating their stage to compete with me, however I additionally needed to increase my sport.
“I used to be nonetheless simply as nervous as at all times earlier than the race. I nonetheless needed to go to the bathroom the identical variety of occasions earlier than the race! It wasn’t simple.”
Chambers prevailed in 6.93. Just a few weeks earlier he had run even faster, too, with a world indoor file for his age group of 6.81 at Lee Valley. The performances had been sufficient to see him voted AW Readers’ Alternative Male Masters Athlete of the Yr.
He first shot to fame as a gifted teenager within the Nineties with a few victories within the European Junior Championships over 100m. A rollercoaster profession ensued with a much-publicised brush with the anti-doping authorities. In newer years he has impressed onlookers together with his ageless athleticism, usually beating athletes half his age as he continues to streak to super-fast occasions in his forties.
Dwain Chambers (Getty)
How did he discover the masters scene? “After years of huge crowds as a world athlete, I assumed ‘what’s it going to be like?’” he says. “I promised myself for years that I used to be going to do a masters occasion and I used to be overwhelmed with the help I obtained and likewise seeing all these older athletes nonetheless doing what they love.
“Okay, they’re not operating loopy quick occasions however they’re on the market doing their greatest. They’re all having enjoyable and having fun with it, which jogged my memory why I beloved the game a lot as a youthful athlete earlier than it obtained to a degree the place it wasn’t a lot enjoyable for some time.”
Did he ever think about as a younger athlete that he’d in the future do masters athletics? “By no means,” he admits. “It didn’t cross my thoughts as a teenager. You simply dwell within the second. You progress from race to race and when you’ve got a brief break then you’ve got a vacation and also you’re again on the journey once more quickly afterwards.”
Dwain Chambers (Getty)
Chambers believes extra former elite athletes ought to give masters competitions a go, too. “I believe masters competitions needs to be a part of an athlete’s duty because it helps increase the profile of the game and helps with longevity and retains you going,” he says.
“It might probably assist athletes who’re near retirement however perhaps don’t know what they’re going to do throughout the remainder of their lives. They will preserve their foot within the door by doing masters athletics whereas figuring every part out. When you go from being disciplined for 10-20 years to immediately being undisciplined, it’s not factor. Masters permits athletes to do the game for the pure enjoyment reasonably than worrying about brokers and contracts and stuff like that.”
After testing constructive for medication in 2003, Chambers acquired a ban from the game and was lambasted by the media. On the top of his infamy, Niels de Vos, chief govt of UK Athletics on the time, known as for him to be banned from the GB staff. But the sprinter at all times maintained a coverage of fronting as much as his errors and steadily, over time, started to win over followers and journalists together with his affable persona. As this AW readers’ alternative vote proves, the previous pantomime villain of athletics is now a revered and admired determine.
Dwain Chambers (C4)
In the present day he advises children to remain heading in the right direction and keep away from medication. It has struck a chord with athletes and oldsters, too, as his Dwain Chambers Efficiency Academy has now been going robust for a number of years with half a dozen coaches and a few admin employees serving to him ship classes to kids at Lee Valley in north London.
“We’re educating children life expertise via sport,” he says. “None of them are assured to grow to be world, European or Commonwealth champions however we’re hoping they are going to grow to be respectable human beings. As soon as they discover that they’ve an curiosity in athletics, we all know we may help them via that course of.”
Exterior of teaching children, Chambers gives his companies to footballers and celebrities as effectively. “It’s cool to have the ability to deliver athletics coaching into the health world,” he says.
In parallel together with his personal sprinting, he performs “Sellebrity Soccer” for charity as effectively. “In the course of the first 5 minutes of the primary sport, I used to be completely destroyed as I used to be solely ever used to operating for 10 seconds or so,” he smiles. “So I preserve it protected and play proper again. I can’t threat twisting my ankle or something.”
Dwain Chambers (Mark Shearman)
He turns 47 in April and might nonetheless combine it with a few of Britain’s greatest sprinters as he reached the semi-final on the UK Indoor Championships earlier this 12 months. Given this, what are the secrets and techniques of his longevity?
Consuming a comparatively clear food plan and resting extra between his more durable classes are excessive up on his checklist of priorities. “At first I nonetheless had the mindset of a 20-year-old however my physique wasn’t the identical as a 20-year-old’s,” Chambers explains. “So I might prepare onerous for a couple of days after which it might take two or three weeks to recuperate.
“I can’t relaxation rather a lot between coaching classes like youthful athletes. I’m teaching and taking care of my very own children and produce other duties throughout the day which doesn’t enable me to only put my toes up.
“So I made a decision to work on my diet, which is one thing that I’d by no means labored on earlier than earlier in my profession. Those that take note of every part will at all times beat those that are solely doing 85-90 per cent of the work.
“We in all probability have fish and chips as soon as in a blue moon and takeaway each Friday however I don’t transcend that. I simply keep disciplined.
“I additionally run quick solely about as soon as each 10 days now. In between I’ll simply do tempo runs or restoration runs. And this works for me significantly better than if I attempt to do pace, pace, pace the entire time.”
Regardless of his scaled-down coaching schedule, advancing years and busy daytime routine, Chambers believes he can run quicker in 2025 than he did in 2024 and has an ambition – albeit he admits it would merely be a deluded fantasy – to get again all the way down to nearer to the 6.42 for 60m and 9.97 for 100m that he ran a couple of years in the past.
“There may be naturally a component of me that thinks: ‘I’ve nonetheless obtained it’,” he says. “I typically ask myself if I’m the equal of being ‘punch drunk’!
“Sure, I ran 6.81 this 12 months nevertheless it’s not 6.40 or 6.20. I believe I can nonetheless run these occasions, however is it my creativeness operating wild or it’s a actuality? And that’s partly what nonetheless drives me.
READ MORE: Feminine masters athlete of the 12 months Clare Elms
“I take a look at what I did after I ran these occasions previously and I’m wondering what steps I could make to get again to that time. Whether or not I can nonetheless run these occasions or not, and even get shut, I’m undecided. However that’s my pursuit of happiness on the minute.”
One factor’s for certain, if he loses his skill to be aggressive then he’s undecided he’ll proceed. “I don’t know what number of years I should go at stage. As soon as that disappears I believe I’ll be accomplished. I like the fun of racing and nervousness and every part that goes with it.”
If Chambers was the person to be shot at throughout the European Masters Champs this 12 months, then the reverse will likely be true on the UK Indoor Championships in Birmingham in 2025. He’s planning to focus on the occasion and is trying ahead to giving the youthful athletes a run for his or her cash.
“I wish to do the trials once more this winter,” he says. “If I’m fortunate and if I can discover that spark once more, I would get to the European Indoor Champs once more!”
» This text first appeared within the December subject of AW journal. Subscribe to AW journal right here, try our new podcast right here or signal as much as our digital archive of again points from 1945 to the current day right here
