British sprinter Dwain Chambers played the role of pantomime villain at the world championships, suffering some pretty half-hearted boos from some of the crowd unhappy at his doping past and his bid to overturn the British Olympic Association’s bylaw banning all convicted dopers from the Games.

Chambers, who served a two-year ban from 2003 and confessed to his “crime”, has also been absent from most of the big European meetings this year thanks to a decision of the cartel of organisers not to invite him.

Nobody likes a doper and, even having served the feeble two-year ban, a cheating athlete should not expect a warm welcome on his return.

He should, however, expect something of a level playing field and Chambers might have been interested to watch Steve Mullings line up for the 200m final having qualified fourth-fastest.

Mullings also served a two-year ban, from 2004, but kept a much lower profile in the aftermath. There has been no booing from the German crowd.

Likewise, Chambers’ British team mate Carl Myerscough, who served a two-year ban 10 years ago, goes about his business unruffled and was politely clapped when introduced to the crowd before this week’s discus final.

Here’s an idea: make all convicted dopers, once they’re back after their bans, enter the stadium wearing a traditional dunce’s cap, with the D now standing for doping. That would make everyone aware of who’s done what.

If that sounds too much, they should at least carry an asterisk, or better still a “D”, next to their names on the start list so the crowd can make sure they distribute their boos fairly.