Sir Matthew Pinsent has claimed drugs cheats should not receive lifetime Olympic bans.
The four-times Olympic gold winner told HuffPost UK Sport that the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) should serve substance abusers with a minimum four-year ban to prevent them from competing at successive Olympics, otherwise organisers risk advocating cheating.
Pinsent interviewed Dwain Chambers for the BBC's Inside Sport in 2007 after his lifetime Olympic ban served in 2003 after testing positive for THG, and admitted the witch-hunt against the sprinter was a sideshow away from the most pressing issue.
"Everyone wants to make it personal about Dwain but for me it was a principle," the 43-year-old said.
Chambers is free to compete at London 2012
"What I hope is we get a greater minimum [ban], we go two-four years because there are people who are getting letters saying 'you’re not going to make it to London', and part of them will feel 'I’ve just done everything I can to make the team' and for a very small minority, they’ll think 'maybe I should cheat.
"'How about I cheat for the next year, if I get summer 2014 and I can be there in Rio.' For that very small minority it will be not just London gone, but Rio gone as well if the ban is longer."
Pinsent also revealed talk of cheating was alien amongst the rowers community he trained in for over 20 years, labelling any remote success a "feat of secrecy".
"Rowers don’t even talk the language. There have been a few cheats done for steroids but there was never even a flicker of it.
"It would be very difficult in a team environment. If I wanted to cheat I’d have to really go outside everything and everybody in order to find what I wanted and then I’ve got to come back into a medical and physiological system, that may spot the difference. In British rowing, it would be a feat of secrecy for one person to cheat in that system and get away with it."
Jessica Ennis played down news of a UK Athletics official labelling her "fat" ahead of London 2012, and it's an issue Pinsent struggles to empathise with given the leeway afforded rowers.
"Rowing’s not a sport where every extra pound you carry is as punishing to your performance as it would be in marathon running or cycling, so we had a lot more latitude in that our body shape.
"The challenge was the volume of food you were getting in and the way you spend that energy. So we would be eating lots, although I’m sure my crew mates would say I was eating lots more!"
On a more frivolous note, does Pinsent remember his answer when asked on the BBC's They Think It's All Over why the USA men's 4x100 metre relay team's Olympic-winning relay sprinters struck a series of cringing bodybuilding poses?
Maurice Greene, Jon Drummond, Brian Lewis and Bernard Williams embarrass themselves
"'Because they’re w*****s?' (Laughs) You were always under pressure to be funny, and that’s quite difficult for sports people predominantly.
"You get to see your team questions before you go out on air, and we had Jonathan Ross going at it, and when the question came out I said 'It's because they're w*****s' and they said ‘just say that’. And it’s true!"
"What gave me complete comfort was I remember watching them doing it and their lap of honour was going on during other people’s events, and that’s really disrespectful.
Sir Matthew Pinsent is Gant UK’s brand ambassador. The partnership strengthens Gant’s global involvement in rowing and complements the Leander Club sponsorship. For further information on Gant please visit www.gant.co.uk.