UK Athletics chief executive Niels de Vos has revealed he won't celebrate if Dwain Chambers wins gold at the World Indoor Championships.

The British sprinter virtually guaranteed selection for next month's event in Valencia after he powered to victory at the trials in Sheffield on Sunday, but he must wait until Tuesday's official first wave of selections for confirmation.

The selection criteria states race winners at the trials are given a spot in the Great Britain squad although "exceptional circumstances" can give the selection panel a way out.

De Vos had initially tried to stop Chambers, who served a two-year drugs ban after testing positive for THG in August 2003, from competing at the English Institute of Sport for a place in the side on the grounds he had retired to take up a career in American football and since returning to the sport has not taken enough drugs tests to prove he is clean.

However the UKA were thwarted by the IAAF, who insisted there was no rule to stop the 29-year-old from running, while his solicitor also threatened an injunction if the ban was not lifted.

Speaking after Sunday's trials, De Vos was adamant Chambers would receive the same treatment as any other athlete, but was still unhappy over the whole fiasco.

He said: "My stance is not about Dwain, it's about the principles of the sport.

"My point has always been twofold. Firstly an established athlete coming back from a ban should have a minimum 12 months' testing and I stand by that.

"And my second point is that any governing body of any sport must have the ability to select who is best for its sport from a performance point of view and a reputation point of view. I know it's widely supported in athletics and hopefully we're moving that way.

"Today's result doesn't change anything. He competed today because he had to compete and we had no grounds to stop him. He won the race and he goes forward and the selectors will consider him on exactly the same basis they consider every other winner of a race here over the last two days.

"He's guaranteed to be considered for selection exactly the same as every other athlete and that's always been the case.

"There are guidelines and our experienced selectors will look at every single case in exactly the same way as every other case."

When asked if he would celebrate if Chambers grabbed the glory in Valencia, he added: "Personally, no, I won't. I think I've made my point very clear on that.

"It's not about him, not anything negative to Dwain. As an athletics fan I can see a guy who has come back today and done a good performance and I admire that.

"But my responsibility is to the sport, not to an individual and I do believe that the involvement of doping offenders is very damaging to the sport and something we need to get out of the sport.

"I feel very open and honest about that but I'm not going to do anything unfairly against any individual or do anything that puts my sport on the wrong side of the law, because that will also be damaging to the sport."

If Chambers does wear the British vest in Valencia, he will be one of the favourites to win a medal and De Vos insists he will not try anything to prevent the selectors from picking him, despite his stance on the situation.

"The job of the selectors is always a difficult one and it's based on a far more detailed knowledge of athletics than perhaps I have in my role. I'm not going to try to influence or sway their decisions. They will make those decisions based on the selection criteria.

"Any decisions they make can be looked at my any athlete and any athlete can appeal against any decision."

It was UK Athletics that asked for Chambers' name to be removed from the UK Sport list of athletes registered for drug testing in 2007, but De Vos insists this was not a mistake on their behalf.

He continued: "Yes, we wrote him a letter and told him but I don't accept it was a mistake not for one second. We took him off for very good reason.

"I think the argument that you have to officially retire is a bit of a legalistic loophole argument than the real argument. If someone goes to another sport and publicly says I've turned my back on the sport of athletics and I don't think it's unreasonable for us as a sport to assume that he retired.

"If I was in his situation I would have said 'hang on, I haven't retired'. We took him off the list and he made no attempt to get back on it."

"It's in the past and it's an unfortunate set of circumstances but the facts of the matter are he hasn't been tested during a very key period over the last four months except for one a couple of weeks ago and I think that is enough for me to say that's not right.

"Our view is perfectly legitimate. There is a significant period of time during which he was not tested out of competition and out of competition testing is the key thing for the credibility of the sport going forward. So I'm absolutely confident in standing behind my position in the manner I've took."

If Chambers is, as expected, chosen for the team there could be a huge impact on team morale in Valencia, both positive and negative, and De Vos believes all the surrounding issues will make the situation difficult.

He added: "It will be deeply uncomfortable for everyone. The whole situation is also difficult for team-mates. Some will know Dwain as an individual, a benefit I don't have. A lot of them will like him as an individual and as a friend and it's very hard to know how to deal with a difficult situation when that comes up."

If Chambers is left out UKA could find themselves at the centre of a legal battle but De Vos is adamant that won't influence the selectors.

He said: "He goes forward to the selection committee and they make their decision. But they certainly won't make them on whether or not there is the likelihood of a challenge."

De Vos has also spoken recently about his plans to review the selection criteria and he was again on hand to clarify this in the wake of Chambers' victory on Sunday.

He said: "We are not going to put ourselves on the wrong side of the law and we are going to follow our selection criteria. Going forward I fully expect our selection criteria to become clearer for everybody. Not just for us but for athletes, supporters, coaches and all the rest of it. That's why I've started to lead a review of the policy, but this was before there was even a whisper of Dwain coming back, it hasn't been driven by him.

"It's been driven by the sport and the challenges it faces."

Despite these recent arguments, De Vos would be happy to see the Belgave Harrier compete if he was regularly tested.

He added: "I would very much love to have him back. It's not a personal thing about it. We have to make sure our athletes are as clean as we ever possibly can and we maintain the right to select who we think best represents the country as most other sports have.

"Those are the two principles I will be putting behind the review. But there will be other questions raised in the review and plenty involved in the review who pose questions that maybe challenge my view. That's a good thing. It's an agenda for the sport."

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