UK Athletics had no real choice but to pick Dwain Chambers for the World Indoor Championships, but their bitter comments about having to make such a begrudging selection are little short of a disgrace, though hardly a surprise.
Talk about making a messy situation even worse.
Once again athletics has been dragged through the mud by drugs issues, and unfortunately it's the only way the sport can grab the headlines these days.
But why is nobody seemingly able to forgive a clearly repentant man who has served his time and just wants a fresh start to bring gold to the nation?
The UKA have made it clear the former drugs cheat is not wanted in the team by claiming the selection committee was "unanimous in its desire not to select Dwain" while a whole host of former athletes have wasted no time in seizing the moral high ground and acting as though they are the saints of the sport.
Why should this man, who served a two-year ban after testing positive for THG, be allowed to come back, wear a British vest again and prove there is life after drugs, they say?
He went to America, knowingly took what he thought was an undetectable drug, got caught, admitted it and then claimed you can't win anything without them. Not exactly someone you want representing your sport?
Former Olympic 400m silver medallist Roger Black believes Chambers' return sends out the "terrible" message young athletes can try performance-enhancing drugs and if they get caught there is still a way back into the sport.
A valid point, but also an extremely negative one.
Does this case not represent how someone can come through the darkness of drugs and attempt to become a figure of inspiration?
But unfortunately there is only one apparently accepted method of dealing with cheats - banish them, ruthlessly wipe all their records and achievements from the history books and pretend they never existed.
It's a hard line, and some want it to be even stricter.
But was Chambers' two-year ban too short? Should he have been legally banned from ever representing his country ever again?
The answers are simple.
You have to be flexible enough to judge each case on its own merits and in this case we must show faith the Belgrave Harrier is indeed a new man and let him restart his career.
Chambers was delighted to get the call-up for Valencia next month and the 29-year-old has subsequently defended himself from his vicious critics.
He said: "Other people are allowed to get on with their lives once they have served a punishment - so why can't I get on with mine?"
Well? Why can't he? Why can't we just forgive him and all move on together.
Changed men deserve another chance in all walks of life and Chambers is no different.
It's not as if he's gloating about how he got away with it and if he does lapse, well that really will be the end of his career.
Lord Sebastian Coe feels it's too late for Chambers to apologise and that he can never become a role model again, especially after he 'retired' from athletics to take up American Football.
But let's be honest, he hasn't really been given a fresh start, and never will be.
He'll be described as 'disgraced sprinter Dwain Chambers' until his dying day, and the ghosts of his past will never fade.
He has the stigma for life so why not give him credit for tying to find a ray of light, even if the authorities are frantically fighting to block it out.
His case proves perfectly that taking drugs in sport destroys your reputation and his Olympic ban means he can't even harbour dreams for London 2012.
The whole episode is damaging for the sport, but is it worse than the embarrassment of British athletics failing to adequately compete on the world stage without talented individuals like Chambers?
Perhaps in a sport like athletics, which attempts to pride itself on ethics and Corinthian spirit, it is.
But if he can stay clean and be more successful than he ever was while under the influence of drugs, then surely that can only send out the right message.
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