DAME KELLY HOLMES: Dwain tarnished my sport. He hasn't been honest. Now he expects us to forgive? I’d ban all drug cheats for life

He has taken drugs and tarnished his sport and the hundreds of athletes who are successful, proud, committed and dedicated and don't need to cheat to compete.

I knew Dwain when he was a youngster. I got on with him and really liked him as a guy, but he lost my respect when he took drugs and cheated blatantly.

I still do not know why people take drugs. I can only think it has to be their desire for success and riches. But those can be achieved with a combination of talent, hard work and honesty.

This whole episode does not reflect well on British athletics. For a start, punishments for drugs cheats must be longer.

Athletics and the many good people in the sport must demand this is the final straw.

Let's now be strong on this, let's send out a message that will make the cheats think again. Two years is no time at all. A minimum suspension should be four years, I would advocate life bans. No second chances for cheats.

I had been among those who stood by Dwain when he tested positive, believing it had been a mistake. We then discovered that he took a substance which he thought was not going to be detected. He lied and his mistake was being caught. If he hadn't been caught, would he still be collecting medals and taking drugs now?

He claims that he has been honest. There is nothing honest about holding up your hands, saying 'I did take drugs' after you've been caught! That's the only reason he is being honest now.

He reminds me of someone from the music industry who takes drugs for publicity — who takes drugs to achieve notoriety. He has taken drugs to achieve success and now he is asking for our forgiveness.

Yet I saw his performance on the track last weekend, after he won the trials and celebrated by punching the air and jumping about following his victory in Sheffield.

Where was his restraint, where was his respect? He should be gaining the public's confidence slowly instead of swaggering around and showing off.

His few supporters will say that he served his suspension. Yes, he did. It wasn't long enough. Not for him and not as a deterrent to others.

Seb Coe talks about the sport imploding and the potential damage of this type of scandal in the build-up to the London Olympics in 2012. So the sport needs help with stricter rules and punishments that can stand up against courtroom action and busy lawyers.

This should not be about the rights and wrongs of a legal argument: it should be what is about right and wrong in sport.

Dwain Chambers is wrong. Wrong to take drugs, wrong to say drugs are needed to win and wrong to expect redemption now as he returns to the British squad for the indoor World Championships.

If it happens elsewhere, we are the first sport to ask: why are the testers not catching them and why are they being let back into the sport?

Today is the relaunch of the Sainsbury's Active Kids scheme which has given away £18million worth of equipment. With my mentoring projects, my 'On Camp With Kelly', my work with schools and kids, I am trying to show sport in a good light.

For all the bad headlines, sport can be inspirational to the young. Not everyone is doing what Dwain did. There are a very few who are actually cheating, but the big scandals are the ones which hit the sport and cause so much damage.

We question everything and everyone when we have a big scandal. It was the same when it happened with Marion Jones and Justin Gatlin.

We have to show we are clean and the way to do that is life bans. If it is proven that an athlete has knowingly taken drugs, then it must be a life ban with the confidence of withstanding the predictable legal fight. Forget the lawyers, just don't take the drugs in the first place.

Dwain should be a role model, sadly he is not. Being an athlete is about being the best you can be, the pride of achievement and, hopefully, one day standing on the rostrum — all those things Dwain has taken away from so many other athletes in his time when he was using drugs.

His past comment — that you can't win without taking drugs — is rubbish. If it were true, it makes me ask: why is he running now. Is he just running for second?

What does his conduct say about the rest of athletics? It is damaging, it is why everyone is so annoyed, it is why we have the right to question his motives, his attitude towards sport and drugs and his place in the squad.