Dwain Chambers’s desire to thumb his nose at his critics and produce some career alchemy almost came to fruition in the most dramatic fashion last night. There was a silver medal and there may yet be a silver lining.

“I’ve busted my arse for this and can go home with my head high,” Chambers said after finishing tied for second in the 60 metres behind Olusoji Fasuba, of Nigeria. “I’ve been looking rough and a bit gaunt. I’ve been putting myself under a lot of pressure. This is my Olympic medal. This silver is my gold.”

The sprinter, making his second comeback to the Great Britain team after completing his drugs ban in 2005, said that he wants to keep running for his country and plans to set up an anti-doping campaign to teach children about the errors of his ways. “I want to start going into schools, use myself as an example and tell kids to not go down the road I took,” he said.

Chambers ran a personal best of 6.54sec but Fasuba ran 6.51, the fastest time in the world this year, to claim the title. Kim Collins also got silver after the timekeepers could not split him and Chambers and said that he felt the Briton had been victimised and subjected to a witch-hunt. Fasuba added that he was a Christian and the Bible taught him to forgive. Even Kelly Sotherton, Chambers’s Britain team-mate, who has been outspoken about doping in the past, said that Chambers had been demonised.

It remains to be seen what happens next for Chambers. He is still believed to owe a six-figure sum to the IAAF, the world governing body, after coming clean over his dirty past, and the £20,000 he won last night will not go far to pay off his debts. “It’s a lot of money — and I mean a lot,” Chambers said. He will meet his lawyer on Monday and decide his next steps.

The options are to accept his British Olympic Association (BOA) life ban or try to make history and become the first man to win a legal challenge to the bylaw that automatically precludes those with doping convictions from appearing at the Olympics. Britain is the only country to have such a ruling and those who believe that Chambers has been singled out will have noted that there were three other athletes who have tested positive in action yesterday, including Carl Myerscough, the Britain shot putter.

Chambers refused to be drawn on his feelings for the UK Athletics (UKA) hierarchy, but said that he was glad that he admitted his guilt, even though by revealing the extent of his cheating he ensured he would encounter financial meltdown. “It needed to be done,” he said. “I wanted to look people in the eye and tell people why I did it. It cost me hugely financially. I wanted to hold my head high. Now I don’t have to watch my back and have people calling me dodgy names.”

Opinion remains split between those who believe he has served his time and those who think that drugs cheats have demeaned the sport and tainted everyone with suspicion. Jacques Rogge, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) president, highlighted the prevailing mood when he backed the BOA ban and said that, in future, anyone with even a six-month doping ban would be ineligible to compete at the Games. The IOC will not be able to bring that in retrospectively, but it is another dissenting voice for Chambers.

His team-mates supported him yesterday, Chris Tomlinson, the long jumper, patting him on the back after the heats. More significantly, Euromeetings, the promoters’ group that had said its 51 members would not be inviting Chambers to its meetings, has backtracked. One promoter admitted that the body was reconsidering its blanket ban on those with doping convictions because it had been advised it was not legally sound.

“It’s above and beyond me,” Chambers said of the BOA situation after winning the last of Britain’s trio of silver medals. “Now I just want to go and celebrate and have a beer and support my team-mates.”

The future remains clouded in doubt and, although Ed Warner, the UKA chairman, said that it would be mean-spirited not to support him, his chief executive, Niels de Vos, had said that he would not be celebrating if Chambers won a medal. Chambers said that he expected to catch up with Warner, who is here, but that De Vos “was a different story”. De Vos later described Chamber’s silver as a “spectacular personal triumph” but said that it would not alter UKA policy.

Chambers added: “The athletes and public are a little bit more forgiving. Eventually things will die down and we’ll come to a compromise.” So the man who the selectors did not want to pick got his medal. Only in athletics.

Tale of the tape

Aug 2003 Part of the Great Britain 4 x 100 metres relay team who won silver at the World Championships in Paris.

Oct 2003 Tests positive for THG. He is banned for two years.

Dec 2005 Admits using THG for 18 months before failing his drugs test, including when he became double European champion in August 2002.

June 2006 The IAAF orders Chambers to repay money earned while he was taking THG. The IAAF annuls his two golds at the 2002 European Championships, the shared European 100 metres record and his 2003 World Championship silver medal.

Aug 2006 Wins gold with the Great Britain 4 x 100 metres relay team at the European Championships. Darren Campbell refuses to go on a lap of honour.

March 2007 Joins Hamburg Sea Devils, the American football team.

Feb 2008 Wins a place in the Britain squad for the World Indoor Championships when UK Athletics is forced to accept his entry. He is still repaying the IAAF.