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Darren Campbell was once on the coaching staff at Cardiff City. It was, it turns out, perfect preparation for his current role back in the sport where he made his name.
‘Working in football gave me an understanding of dealing with many different characters who don’t necessarily like each other but have to go out on the field as an 11 and work,’ says Campbell, who was the Bluebirds’ sprint coach when they won Premier League promotion in 2013. ‘I learnt a lot. It is about getting everybody to buy into the same dream – and man-management.’
As the head of sprints and relays at UK Athletics, Campbell’s man-management skills have been tested more than ever in recent weeks. That is largely because of his decision to select CJ Ujah in the men’s 4x100m squad for last weekend’s World Relays, the athlete whose failed drugs test saw the British team stripped of the silver medal they won at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Also in the eight-man party in the Bahamas were the three sprinters who lost their gongs because of Ujah’s actions – Zharnel Hughes, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Richard Kilty. The latter went on the record two years ago to say that he would never forgive the ‘sloppy and reckless’ Ujah.
Campbell, then, has had his work cut out trying to create harmony on Paradise Island, where the British team have been staying. But, as the 50-year-old is keen to point out, he has first-hand experience of such situations. ‘I went through it myself with Dwain Chambers,’ he reminds Mail Sport.
Darren Campbell’s man-management skills have been tested by the decision to select CJ Ujah
It was 20 years ago that Chambers tested positive for banned steroid THG, causing Campbell to be stripped of his European and world sprint relay medals. When Chambers returned from his two-year ban, Campbell reluctantly raced with him again, winning European gold together in 2006.
‘In any walk of life, you don’t have to like the people that you work with, but you have to do the job that you are here to do – and every single athlete that has come out here has been absolutely professional,’ says Campbell.
‘We have all had conversations to make sure everyone is comfortable. All we can do is speak to each athlete, listen to their feelings on it and try and find a happy medium where people can get on with the job in hand.
‘We are not asking everybody to be the best of friends, but what we are asking is that they respect each other because everybody has the right to represent Great Britain. There are no rules that say I can’t pick CJ.’
As it transpired, Ujah did not run in the Bahamas. Kilty, Hughes, Mitchell-Blake and Eugene Amo-Dadzie qualified the team’s place in Paris by finishing second in their heat on the opening night. Jona Efoloko then replaced Amo-Dadzie in the following day’s final, when they finished fifth in a race won by Noah Lyles’ USA.
Reece Prescod, Britain’s second fastest sprinter, was also an unused squad member at the World Relays. At last year’s World Championships, he was accused of walking out on the team after missing practice sessions, but later claimed he was nursing an injury.
‘My stance with regards to Reece has never changed - I just want him to practise,’ says Campbell. ‘But he has been unbelievable on this camp. I wouldn’t hesitate to select Reece for any relay.’
Ujah's return to Great Britain's 4x100m relay team after a doping ban has caused controversy
Campbell was not actually in Budapest for the Prescod affair last summer. Officially he was on sick leave, but he had also had a disagreement with Stephen Maguire, UKA’s then technical director. When Maguire surprisingly left the organisation last October, Campbell returned to work.
‘I just think it was maybe a personality clash,’ says Campbell, speaking about their fall-out for the first time. ‘I felt targeted in a few different ways. The organisation was very
