KENT'S Olympic gold medalist Dame Kelly Holmes has spoken of her anger at athlete Dwain Chambers’ inclusion in a major athletics championships.

Dame Kelly, from Hildenborough, near Tonbridge, said the sprinter, who has been selected to represent the UK in the world indoor championships despite a two-year drugs ban in 2003, should have been banned from sport for life.

She said: “He is being treated in the way he deserves to be treated. He needs to start looking at himself and realise why people don't believe he should be in the sport."

Dame Kelly previously supported Chambers, who initially claimed he had taken banned substances by mistake until it emerged he had knowingly been doping.

She added: "He got caught out and served a two-year ban, which was right, but he has also said that no-one can win a medal unless they have taken drugs.

"When you take drugs in sport, you are cheating yourself, your fans, your competitors and the system. Any athlete that has taken drugs should not be allowed to run again."

Shadow sports minister Hugh Robertson has also expressed dismay at the selection.

The Faversham and Mid Kent MP said: "I do not think that convicted drug cheats should run again for their country. Once somebody has taken drugs and been found out, that should be it. I completely disapprove and believe this does athletics huge harm," said the MP.

He added that it was "extraordinary" that decisions about who should be selected were being dictated to by lawyers, as Chambers threatened to take legal action if he was excluded after successfully competing in the trials for the championships.

"The most extraordinary thing is that UK Athletics cannot select its own team and lawyers are doing it for them. Whether you agree or disagree with selectors in any sport, nobody has ever suggested they don’t have that right."

MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey Derek Wyatt added his voice to the debate, saying he had "some empathy" with the athlete but that he should have been banned for life.

Mr Wyatt, an aide to sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe, said: "I have some empathy with his position. If he was a burglar, we would be bending over backwards to integrate him back into society. He has held his hands up and said he is sorry."

He added it was "barking mad" that the different rules applied by athletics’ governing bodies meant that Chambers could participate in one championships but not the Olympics.

"In my view, he should be allowed to participate in everything or nothing. The International Association of Athletics Federations has got to amend its own rules to bring it into line.”