Tanni keen to hear Chambers’ reasons

9:30am Monday 18th February 2008

TANNI Grey-Thompson wants to speak to Dwain Chambers to find out the reason behind his decision to cheat as part of the review into anti-doping she is heading for UK Athletics.

The former Paralympic champion, who admits her approach to drugs and cheating can be Stalinesque'', has been appointed to lead the task force looking into the governing body's policy.

The appointment is particularly pertinent in the light of the Chambers episode, which has seen the 29-year-old selected for the World Indoor Championships against the wishes of UKA.

Chambers, who is considering launching a bid to have his Olympic lifetime ban lifted, returned from a two-year drug ban in 2006 after testing positive for THG and now Grey-Thompson wants to find out his motivation for taking the drug.

She said: I'm not sure about him joining the panel but I'd be very interested in talking to him if he was willing to understand why he did it because, for me, it's so far removed from anything that I'd ever contemplate.

You can sit and talk about all that random stuff - money, fame, glory, all those things - but I want to really understand why he took the decisions he took."

Grey-Thompson believes cheats deserve an eight-year suspension, which is effectively life, and has to look at whether it would be possible within a legal framework.

■ Kelly Sotherton will draw inspiration from her performance in the Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham as she prepares to do battle with rival Carolina Kluft at next month's World Indoor Championships.

The Briton was forced to play second fiddle to the imperious Swede on Saturday but her performance will have buoyed her ahead of a clash with Kluft, who is unbeaten in multi-events for five years.

In an enthralling three-event challenge competition, Commonwealth heptathlon champion Sotherton lost out by just 18 points in their long jump, 60 metres hurdles and 400m encounters.

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