Former Great Britain team captain John Mayock hopes young athletes can learn from Dwain Chambers' downfall after it was revealed he may quit the sport less than a year after returning from a two-year drug ban.
The sprinter's agent Cubie Seegobin has revealed the former European champion could be poised to pursue a career in American football.
A condition of Chambers' return to the track was that he reimbursed prize money to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) for the period he was using drugs.
Although the exact figure the 28-year-old has to repay has never been revealed it is thought to exceed £100,000 from championships and high-earning Golden League meetings Chambers competed in during 2002-03.
"I think because we have so much more money to pay back, if he can make another way to make a living he will," California-based Seegobin said.
Mayock recalled being stunned when he learned Chambers (pictured) had failed a drugs test for the designer steroid THG (tetrahydrogestrinone), after an out-of-competition test in Germany three years ago.
"I always remember during my career watching Dwain when he won championship races, running around wrapped in a Union Jack, celebrating" said Mayock, a 1500m finalist at the 1996 and 2000 Olympic Games.
"I was running well myself at the time but I admit, I used to think 'why couldn't I be like that.'
"I thought he was a great guy. But then I found out he had been cheating the sport.
"I didn't come into the sport to take drugs and if I'd been offered them I would have refused.
"Like many other British internationals for a good 15 years, I trained twice a day and forsake much of my personal life to fulfil my athletics ambitions.
"When you think what Kelly Holmes and Paula Radcliffe have achieved as clean athletes, it proves a point you can be successful without drugs. All we can hope is his behaviour will act as a deterrent to aspiring athletes."
