Niels de Vos said that in light of the recent scandals involving Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin it was more important than ever that the sport took a tough stance against doping in the build-up to the 2012 Olympics.

 

De Vos wrote in the latest edition of Athletics Weekly published today: "It is often easier to remain ignorant, stand back and turn the other cheek, but in doing so you compound the problem and allow it to fester.

 

"We can no longer afford to simply cross our fingers and hope the cheats are found and ousted.

 

"We can certainly no longer welcome back proven 'cheats' into the fold the way we have in the past.

 

"This is simply not a UKA responsibility.

 

"It is the responsibility of the sport.

 

"Excommunication by one's peers (be they fellow athletes, club members, coaches or competition organisers) might prove the most effective deterrent of all."

 

Chambers, the 2002 European 100 metres champion until he was stripped of the title after admitting he was on performance-enhancing drugs at the time, has indicated that he plans to compete in the Birmingham Games at the National Indoor Arena on Saturday.

 

He hopes to obtain a qualifying time in the 60m to compete in the World Indoor Championship trials in Sheffield the following weekend with the plan of representing Britain in Valencia in March.

 

The International Association of Athletics Federations have said that Chambers is eligible to compete but de Vos is determined to keep the Londoner out.

 

In Athletics Weekly he wrote: "The minority in athletics who use drugs are brutal and merciless in their quest to dupe and defraud and we must match their guile if we are to stamp them out.

 

"We owe it to the hundreds of thousands of clean athletes around the world."

 

De Vos continued: "Words mean nothing in the fight against drugs in sport: action is everything."