Campbell blast clouds win

ByEurosport

Published 13/08/2006 at 18:20 GMT

An outburst by Darren Campbell overshadowed Great Britain's European Championship win in the 4x100m relay in Gothenburg on Sunday. The 32-year-old Mancunian also refused to complete a lap of honour or pose for the customary photographs holding the Union J

Campbell had instead rushed to BBC reporters to give an interview in which he slammed both the press and his team-mates.

The win was Great Britain's first and only gold of a Championships that saw them gain the second highest total medals haul alongside Spain (11) but finish tenth in the overall table.

"I'm not a hypocrite. How can I do a lap of honour?" the Great Britain team captain said to reporters. "I've made my situation clear. I just can't take the rubbish any more."

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Campbell then spoke of "certain accusations thrown at me because I take part in a team that I have no control (over)".

When asked about what the alleged accusations were and who had made them, Campbell merely replied: "Read the papers. I've made my situation clear."

The remaining trio of Marlon Devonish, Dwain Chambers and Mark Lewis-Francis made an odd sight posing for photos without their colleague, and while they were clearly delighted with the win Campbell could only think about the internal wrangling.

ATHLETICS 2006 European Champs 4x100m Great Britain relay team Mark Lewis-Francis

Image credit: Reuters

"If everyone else wants to blow a little smoke over it, that's up to them," he continued. "Hopefully everyone's happy now - they've got their gold."

"You're damned if you do and damned if you don't. I've done what I always do and run for Great Britain."

Dwain Chambers - welcomed back after serving a two-year doping suspension - implied that they knew what Campbell's problem was but refused to go into further detail.

"He had his reasons for going off, but I can't vouch for him," said Dwain Chambers, who ran the first leg.

"He's obviously hurting, but he'll give his opinions at his given time."

CHAMBERS APOLOGY

Earlier in the week Chambers had apologised to the team for taking drugs four years ago, Great Britain having lost their 2002 European title on account of Chambers' use of the steroid THG, with his colleagues voting to keep him on the team.

There is the suggestion that Campbell was not entirely happy about Chambers' reinstatement.

"Dwain apologised in the warm-up and he voiced his opinions and that was a bit of a defining moment," said Marlon Devonish, who ran the third leg.

ATHLETICS 2006 European Champs Marlond Devonish Britain Gothenburg

Image credit: Reuters

"We talked about it, said, 'Okay right, we appreciate you coming out with that kind of thing,' so it was good."

Chambers said it had been up to the team whether he ran the relay or not.

"It was down to whether the team was going to be happy with me being in the relay team. We had our own talks and it was the right decision as long as the team and the relay members were okay with it."

The number one ranked British sprinter was himself delighted with the gold. "It made up for four years to get it back," said Chambers.

"It's good to get it back and it's good to make up what we lost by my foolishness. But the past is the past and we're all smiling again," he told reporters.

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