"I didn't want to watch it," Coe, the chairman of London 2012, told insidethegames.

 

"I couldn't be bothered - I watched my son play hockey instead.

 

"You should have heard what the other parents there were saying about the return of Chambers.

 

"Their attitude is a real problem for the sport."

 

Coe, the 1980 and 1984 Olympic 1500 metres champion, has been joined by other British medallists in saying they do not want to see Chambers back in a British vest.

 

The 29-year-old Londoner was today named in Britain's team for the World Indoor Championships in Valencia next month despite the opposition of Niels de Vos, the chief executive of UK Athletics, and the selectors, who said they were forced to pick him against their will.

 

Coe said: "UK Athletics had no other alternative.

 

"If they had not picked him, it would have been challenged legally.

 

"But I'm uncomfortable with it.

 

"My sport is incredibly fragile at the moment and you seriously have to question where it is."

 

Holmes, the 2004 Olympic 800m and 1500m gold medallist, said:  "Each case (drugs) is different.

 

"But in his case I don't believe he should be running.

 

"This was an athlete who went to America, knowingly took a drug that was undetectable at the time, got caught, admitted he'd taken drugs then went on to say that you can't win anything without taking drugs.

 

"And then goes and competes again, I presume because he wants to win."

 

Speaking before a 400-strong audience at Sheffield Hallam University, the gold medallist said that letting a confessed cheat compete casts a cloud over the whole country.

 

Dame Kelly said: "I don't believe he should be running because you are representing your country.

 

"I don't think it puts us in a good light as a country allowing a cheat, who has admitted he's a cheat, to represent us.

 

"There are so many other people like myself who are completely dedicated, focussed, committed and went through so many things to try and be the best you can be and then there's other people knowingly cheating.

 

"I don't think its right."

 

But Dame Kelly's comments contradict very sharply what she said when Chambers returned to the sport the first time in 2006.

 

Then during an interview with BBC's Sportsweek broadcast in June 2006 she said: "It was right that he was out of the sport for the time he was, but he's come back.

 

"He's a great athlete, and we probably need him back in the sport."

 

Roger Black, the 1996 Olympic 400m silver medallist, joined in the criticism of Chambers,.

 

He said: "If UK Athletics hadn't selected him, the legal ramifications would have been huge.

 

"He had a pretty strong case and he is playing within the rules of the sport.

 

"But it's a terrible thing for the sport.

 

"This is going to go on and on because Dwain Chambers is not going to get any slower.

 

"He is going to be better outdoors than he is indoors and is going to be beating a lot of people for the foreseeable future."

 

"The views expressed by UK Athletics are the views of athletes past and present..

 

"There is a bigger picture here and it's about protecting the future of the sport.

 

"It upsets me when Dwain comes out with statements that you cannot win an Olympic gold medal without taking drugs.

 

"That's factually wrong and it does an enormous amount of damage to the kids who want to come into the sport.

 

"I understand him wanting to be a shining example of what you can do clean but I don't buy that.

 

"I think it is an example to young athletes of 'give it a go, if you get caught - it's OK, you can always come back'."