Product Description

In January 2002 the athlete Dwain Chambers made a serious error of judgement when he succumbed to peer pressure and temptation and took a performance enhancing substance. The inevitable bust, when it happened, came almost as a relief. Nevertheless it would turn his life upside down. Chambers came clean, held up his hands and unburdened himself of the guilt he d been carrying for so long. His income fell from six figures per annum to nil and he had to repay 18 months of athletics prize money when he freely admitted the timescale of his abuse. A two-year competition ban was imposed and a lifetime ban from the Olympics. He fought the two-year ban as the drug he took was not actually on a banned list at the time of his offence. Despite the experts advising him otherwise he lost the case, needing to sell his house in order to pay the costs. He then made the decision to rebuild his athletics career and his life and decided to fight the British Olympic Association attempting to overturn his lifetime Olympic ban. Some would say it was yet another error of bad judgement taking on The Establishment . For five years Dwain Chambers has been abused and vilified by the BOA, the media and his fellow athletes past and present, he has been called a cheating bastard in a radio interview and a prominent Lord has used the F word when referring to him. Lord Sebastian Coe, Lord Colin Moynihan, Daley Thompson, Steve Cram, Steve Redgrave and Dame Kelly Holmes are just a few of the high profile names who have ensured a tirade of negative publicity during and leading up to one most high profile hearings in British sporting history. Once again Dwain Chambers placed his faith in British justice. Two of his legal acquaintances Jonathan Crystal and Nick Collins agreed to work for free, such was their belief in their client s right to run. The BOA, by their own admissions were not particularly well off, nevertheless they wheeled in David Pannick QC, arguably Britain's pre-eminent brief on sporting matters, whose hourly rate of up to £1,500 puts him at the very top of the pile of legal earners. The Lawyer magazine estimates he commands an annual income in excess of £2m. Chambers lost his case. He sat and watched the Beijing Olympics at home. Dwain Chambers has kept a diary for five years, now it s his turn to talk. His treatment by certain individuals, who are far from perfect themselves, and in particular by the BOA have sickened him to the core. The lies and double standards are evident in RACE AGAINST ME as Chambers pours his heart out and exposes the real cheats in the world of athletics. RACE AGAINST ME is a book that will shake UK and world athletics to the core written by a man who tells it how it is.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39843 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-10
• Released on: 2009-06-10
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 280 pages

Customer Reviews

ANTI-HERO CHAMBERS RISES ABOVE THE HYPOCRISY
A fascinating insight into the dirty world of athletics which " the establishment" are trying so very hard to suppress, thereby shooting themselves spectacularly in the foot.
Chambers writes surprisingly well, the style is fresh and immediate and it makes compulsive reading. Chambers' brutal honesty is sometimes too raw - the rose-tinted spectacles are torn from your face, as the underlying hypocrisy of his relentless flagellation emerges like pus oozing from an open sore. It is easy to see why Chambers is emerging as an anti-hero and why the mealy-mouthed "drug cheat" platitudes of Cram et al are falling largely on deaf ears.

What a great opportunity.
Dwain Chambers "Race against me" is a must read book. Already the press have disseminated the meaning of his words and the usual crew of knockers have assembled. In this case the knockers seem to be thicker on the ground and even after 6 years since his drugs conviction we still have him addressed as 'Drugs Cheat Chambers'. I suggest that we are all kinda missing the point. Chambers gives a graphic explanation of his drugs regime which makes harrowing reading for anyone thinking that 'artificial' ingestions will make a better athlete. In fact Chambers is now proving that, contrary to his initial thoughts you run better, quicker and more efficiently clean.
Surely 'The establishment' would be better served by getting behind this man and supporting his efforts. He could be a shinning example to the up coming youth IF he was used correctly. He is being tested regularly and is coming clean every time. Leopards can change their spots. He held up his hands. Isn't it time we held up ours and gave him the chance, meantime read the book for your self and make your own decisions. I for one think he needs and deserves a second chance and the book is a surprisingly good read.

Refeshingly Honest

I made a good start on this book during a flight delay at Newcastle Airport. Having made a contribution to the book it was a strange experience for me coming across particular sections that I remembered well. I recalled Dwain's spoken words and how at first he expressed concern at just how he would struggle to get his message across within the pages of a book.
He needn't have worried , as I read on I became pleasantly surprised and pleased with the way the book panned out. At last Dwain Chambers has had a chance to speak out without interruption, at last his voice has been heard and I sincerely hope that the people, his people, the average man and woman on the street, athletics and sports fans form their own opinion of the story. I hope they do so without interference from the small, hyena like minority of our society who unfortunately hold sway over the nation and our lives because of the privileged positions they hold in TV, journalism, the media and even parliament and the House of Lords.
`Race Against Me' documents the rise and fall of an athlete who succumbed to the overbearing temptation of performance enhancing drugs over four years ago whilst all alone in America. The book tells how he accepted his punishment and how the resultant financial penalties brought him to the brink of ruin and bankruptcy and ultimately thoughts of suicide. Chamber's didn't run when the drug testers came calling, he didn't bolt out of the back door nor did he fill his mobile phone voice box to capacity making him unreachable. Chambers held up his hands and said `here I am, punish me'. The book depicts that epic moment well and we the reader, may even form the view that he wanted to be caught. The mental anguish and torment he went through during the time he was on performance enhancing steroids clearly affected his performance. He even lays bare in the book the very diaries detailing the exact date, timings and quantity and type of drugs he was taking. He takes us through how his body changed, his mental state and the medical down sides and dangers any athlete faces playing this dangerous game.

The book is refreshingly honest, more honest I think than any account I have ever read. Chambers tells it how it is. And yet still they scurry after him with their claws poised and ready, their noses twitching, whiskers trembling, waiting for just one more mistake, one error of judgment, one word spoken out of turn so they can punish him again. Even in our great country where we can still voice an opinion (or can we?) the dogs are waiting to tear him to bits. Before this book was even released, an individual mentioned in the book had threatened to bring his lawyers onto Chambers `like a ton of bricks'. Book distributers, book stores and athletics authorities alike all chipped in stating that `Race Against Me' was about to be legally challenged. All this without a single page having been read.

The book is a powerful account and makes gripping reading. Chambers voices his opinion on performance enhancing drugs and steroids and does his best to get the word on the street that they simply screw lives and have no place in athletics. He tells of the double standards in the sport, of preferential treatment and how people he once called friends now look upon him like something they have scraped off their shoe.

And throughout the book, right up to the final pages, I can't help feeling he has been a convenient scapegoat, the victim of one huge conspiracy to secure the 2012 Olympics for London. Why should that be?