Only more tests will catch the cheats, says Conte

Victor Conte, who created the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO) in California, is convinced that athletes remain intent on cheating the system.

He said: "I still believe the overwhelming majority are going to be using performance enhancing substances. They use substances that are undetectable and they don't have enough testing. When athletes truly believe it is much more difficult to circumvent testing you'll see far more performances by athletes who are doing it with hard work as opposed to chemical substances."

Conte was jailed for four months for the biggest drugs scandal in sport, but he believes UK Athletics should not turn their back on Chambers' offer of wanting to help others.

He said: "Dwain deserves to be forgiven and have another chance to earn a living. I used to be a part of the problem, Dwain Chambers used to be a part of the problem. I made a decision and Dwain has as well. It is time to be part of the solution.

"UK Athletics are making a mistake. He is a guy who has made the wrong decision, who has suffered the consequences. They need to utilise the experience, the lessons that Dwain has learned and let him step up and pass that experience on to young athletes."

Conte's Balco company was accused of producing the anabolic steroid Tetrahydrogestrinone (THG), a substance that Chambers used in 2002 and 2003.

Chambers was banned for two years, returning to the sport in 2006, then embarking on a career in American Football before a second comeback this winter which has seen him win, amid controversial circumstances, a place in Britain's team for next month's World Indoor Championships in Valencia.

THG was only detected when a syringe with samples of the steroid was sent to the Olympic drug-testing laboratory at the University of California, Los Angeles, by Trevor Graham, the former coach of disgraced drugs trio Marion Jones, Tim Montgomery and Justin Gatlin among others.

Chambers suffered another blow yesterday in his preparations for the 60metres in Valencia when he was prevented from running at the last major international meeting before the championships.

He will not be allowed to compete in Ghent on Sunday week. And top Belgian promoter Wilfried Meert followed the lead of fellow European race organisers by stopping him running at his Brussels Golden League event in September.

Meert said: "I will not be inviting to my meeting Chambers or anyone else who has been banned for cheating. This isn't a personal thing with Dwain. But recently drug cheats have dealt the sport too many blows and the time has come to try and call a halt."

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Nowhere to run: Dwain Chambers, who has been told he cannot compete in Ghent, after training yesterday

Chambers' other options could be Stockholm next Thursday or Paris the following night, the latter event being earmarked by his British rival Craig Pickering as his last chance of making the squad.

Simeon Williamson and European indoor silver medallist Pickering are chasing the one remaining place in the 60m. Pickering has been forced to pull out of tomorrow's Norwich Union Grand Prix in Birmingham with a virus and Paris will be his final opportunity to impress selectors before they finalise their team on Sunday week.

Meanwhile, Lord Coe has revealed he intends to wind down his career in sports politics after the 2012 Olympic Games.

The double Olympic gold medallist, chairman of the London 2012 organising committee, headed the successful bid to bring the Games to the capital. But Coe, 51, believes his sporting ambitions should have been fulfilled in five years.

"For me, this is the last lap," Coe told BBC Radio. "I'm part of a team that's delivering something that hasn't been here for 64 years, with all the massive potential.

"In 2013, when we've done what we have to do and we've hopefully put some really important structures in place, I think that will probably be it for me."

Coe insists the issue of a Games legacy is uppermost in the thoughts of the 2012 team. He said: "The biggest challenge is leaving stuff behind.

"I want to be, and I know my team want to be, judged as much on what we leave behind as on the show that we present to the world for six weeks in 2012."