British sprinters rollercoaster career has seen him go from disgraced drug cheat to someone who now receives admiration, affection and applause

At the UK Indoor Championships in Sheffield in 2008, Dwain Chambers was booed in some quarters as he returned from his well-publicised doping ban. Niels de Vos, the chief executive of UK Athletics at the time, called for him to be banned from the GB team and the headline on the front of AW that week screamed: Chambers of horrors!

Sixteen years later, the 45-year-old received one of the warmest rounds of applause of the day at the same national championships this time at a sell-out Utilita Arena in Birmingham as he qualified from his heat for the semi-finals of the mens 60m before gallantly bowing out.

From jeers to cheers, Chambers has won over the crowd with his affable personality, anti-doping messages and, of course, ageless athleticism.

Not only that, he has caught the imagination of the media with Fleet Street journalists focusing on the part he might play as a coaching advisor in future GB teams. On the morning of the championships, BBC Breakfast kicked off a short preview of the event by saying he was aiming to earn selection to the team for the World Indoor Champs, too.

It was wishful thinking by the BBC. Instead of trying to make the squad for Glasgow, Chambers true goal was to simply turn up and compete, to enjoy the occasion and maybe threaten his world M45 record of 6.81 set earlier this year.

In my mind Ive still got it but the body is different, he said, and thats a hard thing to acknowledge.

Still, his performances this winter have been extraordinary and on Saturday he was up against athletes less than half his age. So what is his advice for older athletes who are toying with retirement?

Train less and recover more, he told AW. It took me two years to figure that out. Now I train twice a week. My recovery between runs is longer. And for once Ive started to work on my nutrition.

Due to my genetic make up I never had to, but I now realise the importance of good food now and eight to ten hours sleep. Also, when my body says stop, I stop.

Surely he has fragile areas of his body that are his current Achilles heel? He paused to consider, before replying: Everything is working really well. The only challenge I have is my mind.

In the past I had a chip on my shoulder and something to fight for but I dont have to fight anymore. Its all gone and theres no flame. So what do I use? You have to use something to get yourself going, so I try to aim for the enjoyment of it.

As a rookie reporter at AW, I first interviewed Chambers in the late 1990s after hed won the 1997 European junior 100m title and set a world junior record of 10.06 for 100m. During the height of his infamy, when he was part of the Balco doping scandal, I was among the journalists who was critical of him returning from his ban.

But he was never bitter, nor held a grudge and four years ago I randomly bumped into him at Paddington rail station in London and he greeted me with his trademark grin and a firm handshake. Such a friendly attitude has surely helped him win over many former critics.

Headlines such as disgraced or shamed sprinter followed him around in countless articles over the years and he could quite easily have retreated to the shadows and become an angry sporting outcast. But he did the opposite and has become an anti-doping speaker and a charismatic and energetic coach of young athletes.

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He has continued to defy Father Time, too. Ten years ago he took the British outdoor 100m crown aged 36. And on the eve of his 39th birthday he won 60m bronze in the national indoor championships. He is inevitably slowing and this weekend failed to make the final, but he is still producing times most athletes his age can only dream of.

It just feels great to still be in a position to do this at the age of 45, he says. Life is short, we die once but we live every day.