Sport Industry Group

25 Jan 2012

Olympic gold medallist Darren Campbell speaks to sportindustry.biz about drug-use in athletics, retiring from sport, and being a Sky Sports Living for Sport ambassador.

You are an ambassador for Sky Sports Living for Sport. What attracted you to the project and how was the awards ceremony?

It was a fantastic day. It was the second time we have done the awards ceremony. Last year we celebrated juniors and young people, with a winner for student of the year.

This year we took it a step further and awarded a prize for the teachers who ultimately enforce and keep people on track. The mentors who go into the schools and work with these young people have done a fantastic job.

And you were part of the judging panel for the Awards as well – a tricky prospect?

Very, very tricky; when you’re listening and reading the stories of the 12 regional finalists, having to pick an overall winner is difficult. It sounds like a cliché but in reality they are all winners. The journeys they have all been on are all unique and different in their own ways. For me personally the most exciting thing is when they talk about how they intend to push on from this. One lad said he wanted to become a social worker. That’s his ambition, to go back and help people who have been in his situation. Other people hoped to go back to primary school to help teach and mentor young people, and that’s when you fully appreciate the power sport can have.

At a time when London 2012 is just round the corner, legacy is a word that is being used more and more. For me legacy is about creating something that is sustainable. Something that continues for decades, not just a year or two years after the event – so being part of Sky Sports Living for Sport, as head ambassador, is very rewarding after retiring as an athlete.

You seem to be just as busy now as when you were competing?

I’m probably busier! I think it’s very important we use the power of the Olympic Games and try to motivate and inspire people to believe in themselves. Have a dream, have an ambition, and then put everything in place to work towards achieving that.

And you also run a sports nutrition company – is that something you’re particularly passionate about?

Absolutely. I set up a sports nutrition company, Pro Athlete Supplementation, about six years ago now, to try and create a safe nutrition company that professional sports people can use in confidence. Over the last few years it’s been really successful, and we were one of the first companies to get the ‘Informed Sport’ tag, which ensures the correct processes are followed so the products we produce for professional sports people are safe and tested and eliminate the chance of cross-contamination, for example.

We look after over 100 teams around the world at the moment and have a fantastic relationship with British Army Rugby and the police. I always felt that if I was able to become an Olympic champion, it could give me the means and the platform to follow through on another ambition of mine, to become a successful businessman – and with some hard work, dedication and a lot of focus we seem to be getting where we hoped to be.

I was very fortunate that I was able to compete in three Olympic Games, coming back with a silver and a gold, then out in Beijing in 2008 with the BBC so I’ve seen it from all different sides and the big inspiration in my life came from the 1984 Olympics and watching Carl Lewis win four Olympic gold medals. Growing up on an estate with limited opportunities, I bought into the ethos that an athletics career could take me out and help develop me as a person. A lot of the attributes that make you successful in sport can also help you be successful in business, it’s just about adapting, having the right values, and doing things for the right reasons – and the rewards can come to you in the end.

Talking of the right values in sport, the drugs in sport debate continues to rage on. You were offered drugs during your time as an athlete – how important was it for you, as a person as much as an athlete, that you said no?

Well, I grew up around drugs, on a council estate, so I saw a lot of things. I was about 14 or 15 years old when my mum said to me ‘you’re going down this journey to becoming a sportsperson – if anyone ever offers you drugs say no. I’d rather you stopped the sport than for you to decide drugs is how you want to get there.’

I always felt privileged to have the opportunity to become a successful athlete so I wasn’t going to blow it by taking shortcuts. It was never an option for me.

I’ve said in the past about the whole Dwain Chambers situation, Dwain isn’t wholly accountable; someone tempted him down that road and I will never condemn him as a human being for making a certain choice because my choices where instilled in me by the people around me. I wouldn’t want anyone to go through what Dwain Chambers has been through. He’s not a bad person, he was just misdirected and misguided.  

So do you think Dwain, and other athletes found guilty of drug-use, should be allowed at London 2012?

I’m afraid if you decide to take that gamble then there have to be consequences. You get caught, that’s life. It needs to be a deterrent. The problem is there’s no clarity with what the punishment is.

The lap of honour I didn’t do was way back in 2006 (Darren refused to share a lap of honour with Chambers after they won gold with the relay team at the European Championships) and still we have no clarity.

A lot of people criticised me at the time because they thought I was against Dwain. I wasn’t. I was against how decisions are made, and here we are in 2012, and we still haven’t got clarity. It’s crazy. If Dwain had known at the time he would have got a lifetime ban from the Olympics, maybe it would have helped him make his decision in a different way. The Olympics is the pinnacle for an athlete.

As the pinnacle, then, was your gold at the Athens Olympics in 2004 your proudest moment?

Certainly it was one of my proudest moments. I think competing in the Commonwealth Games in Manchester as well. I am Manchester born and bred and I never thought I would get the opportunity to compete in front of a home crowd and to be able to carry the flag into the stadium for the England team – that is one memory that will always stick with me.

Obviously winning an Olympic gold was something that I dreamt about when I was 12 years old, so 20 years later to step up onto the top of the podium knowing that I achieved it was a very proud moment – not so much because it was an Olympic gold, but because I achieved something in my life that I had been working towards. It just makes you feel like anything in your life is possible. If you decide you want to do something, it might not happen overnight, it took me 20 years before I became that Olympic champion I dreamt of being.

Are you jealous at all of the current Olympic team, preparing to compete at a home Olympic Games?

No way, I had my time – I don’t think I would like the person I am if I was jealous of them! I know the pressure they are going to be under. It won’t be easy. Just because they are competing at their home Games doesn’t mean it’s easy and your going to win a gold medal, it doesn’t work like that. The reality is those guys are going to have to deal with the pressure of competing in front of a British public.

So no, not jealous but very excited for them because it will be an experience that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. I am excited the Games are coming to London, and I just want the public to get behind it because it is going to be so special. I hope as many people as possible will experience what the Olympic Games is all about and it will be an incredible three weeks.

And you’re commentating for BBC 5 Live, will you be there as a fan?

First and foremost I’m a sports fan. I love all sports, so when I’m not commentating I’ll be there cheering everyone on. I’m part of the 5Live team and also a BOA ambassador so I’ll be there as much as possible.

You sound like you’ve been very busy since retiring, was that a conscious effort?

We’ve read a lot recently about how sportspeople can struggle when they retire and I’ve seen it first hand when different people around me have retired.

One of the things I realised was how important it is to find something to do as soon as you’ve retired to keep you busy. The key thing is that you have to do something you are passionate about, and if you can find that it can replace sport. It can replace what you used to do, 100%.