International athlete Dwain Chambers visits CONEL to talk to students about his career

CCCG’s sports students heard from British athlete Dwain Chambers who spoke about his sporting career and personal challenges.

Around 40 students from Capital City College Group’s (CCCG) Sports Academies attended a talk and training session led by the British athlete and former College of Haringey, Enfield and North East London (CONEL) student Dwain Chambers.

Dwain is an international athlete who represented Team GB at the Sydney Olympics in the year 2000. He has won medals at World and European levels and continues to compete, recently breaking the world record for 45-50 year-old athlete in 60m.

During his visit to CONEL’s Enfield Centre on 23 February, Dwain spoke to the students about his upbringing, his reasons for getting into athletics and the highs and lows of his career. He talked about the various decisions he has made and the impact they have had on his career. Dwain spoke candidly about taking performance-enhancing drugs and the short and long-term consequences he faced after testing positive.

The students, some of whom hope to compete after completing their courses, were able to put their questions to Dwain. He shared his thoughts and experiences on a range of topics from what drives him, to whether he thinks people are still using performance-enhancing drugs today.

Following his talk and Q&A session, Dwain led a training session where he showed the students how to deliver an athletics session and demonstrated running techniques for increasing speed.

Sports Academy student Reiss Gomes said: “I felt like the talk was really good. It helped me and it made me think about how I want to pursue my football career, all the mistakes that I need to put away so I can carry on and be the best I can.”

Another Sports Academy student, Prince Joshua Megbo, said: “I felt the talk was raw. It was very clear that he understood every part of the walk in life that he took. I really felt like that was good for young people to hear – something that we need to hear in this day and age.”

The event was filmed by media students who also attended.

If you’re aged 16-19 and enrolled on one of our courses, you can join one of our Sports Academies, which are partnered with local professional organisations to give you the best training, advice, and opportunities. It’s the perfect way to combine your academic course with the sports training of your choice.

We offer a wide range of sports and fitness courses for learners of all levels and backgrounds.

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