30 Facts About Darren Campbell

Darren Campbell spent two years away from athletics, playing professional football but returned in 1995, attending his first Olympics shortly afterwards.

Darren Campbell had won a gold medal at the 2002 European Championships and a 2003 World Championship silver medal but had to return them when his running-mate, Dwain Chambers, tested positive for banned substances, sparking much animosity between the two.

Darren Campbell won his last medal in 2006, again taking the relay gold at the European Championships, and he retired shortly afterwards.

Darren Campbell was beaten both times by Ato Boldon, who became the first athlete to win a double at the championships.

Darren Campbell returned to athletics in 1995, and ran the 100 m in 10.34sec that year.

In 2000, Campbell won the man of the match award in the European Cup following his performance in the 100 m Campbell replaced Jason Gardener with 20 minutes notice, and won the race in a time of 10.09sec.

At the Olympics in Sydney, Darren Campbell placed 6th in the 100 m final, and took a surprise silver medal in the 200 m, as Darren Campbell was mainly a 100 m runner, and had a previous best time of 20.49sec.

Darren Campbell was again hit by injury in 2001, missing the majority of the year's competitions.

Darren Campbell had run 10.16sec for the 100 m and 20.41sec for the 200 m, and been named European Cup captain prior to the injury.

Darren Campbell's bronze was later upgraded to a silver after Dwain Chambers confessed to taking performance-enchancing drugs at this time.

Darren Campbell won his quarter-final in the 200 m, but was eliminated after being disqualified for stepping outside his lane.

The year saw Darren Campbell compete in his home town of Manchester in the Commonwealth Games.

Darren Campbell did repeat his Olympic success in the 200 m, receiving bronze in this event.

In 2003, at the Paris World Championships, Darren Campbell took bronze in the 100 m, but missed on a medal in the 200 m, finishing fourth in the final.

However, Darren Campbell performed less well in the 100 m and 200 m, exiting in the heat and semi-final respectively, due to not being fully recovered from a hamstring injury.

Darren Campbell did not compete individually at the European Championships in Gothenburg, but ran the second leg to help Britain to the gold medal in the 4 x 100 relay.

Darren Campbell initially remained cryptic about his problems, but revealed the next day that his lap of honour boycott was due to his loss of two relay medals as a result of Dwain Chambers' doping.

Darren Campbell did explain that he did stand by Chambers insofar as he was not solely accountable, but he felt Chambers had a duty to inform the authorities of the individuals who led him to his departure to America and his resulting adoption of a drug programme.

Darren Campbell defended his links with Christie, stating that he would not have remained with Christie if he thought he had cheated.

In July 2007, Darren Campbell was announced as the new ambassador for Sky Sports Living for Sport, a successful initiative run by the Youth Sport Trust in conjunction with BSkyB, which uses sport as a tool to re-engage young people who may be at risk of opting out of school life.

Darren Campbell is well regarded in football circles; he has given training sessions to Manchester United, Chelsea and Everton.

Darren Campbell is said to be a pace and acceleration specialist.

Darren Campbell worked with MK Dons, at the invitation of then manager, Paul Ince.

Darren Campbell has previously worked with Jonah Lomu while the Kiwi was playing rugby for Cardiff.

Darren Campbell's reputation was made as a championship runner, rather than a runner of fast times.

Apart from these performances, during his career Darren Campbell has won seven national titles at either the 100 or 200 metres.

Darren Campbell was a childhood friend of English comedy personality Karl Pilkington, as described in The Ricky Gervais Show podcasts.

Darren Campbell guest presented children's TV gameshow Best of Friends in the 'sports special' with Iwan Thomas in 2008.

Darren Campbell was a participant in round one of Celebrity MasterChef 2011.

Darren Campbell is a dog breeder, breeding Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, Border Collies, Rottweilers and other breeds.