The athletics coach whose evidence led to the downfall of Britain's European 100 metres champion Dwain Chambers was sentenced yesterday, on the same day that the British sprinter admitted he'd "more than likely" still be cheating if he hadn't been caught.

Trevor Graham, who broke the doping omerta and triggering the greatest bust in sporting history, received a slap on the wrist: a $5000 fine, five years probation, and a year's home confinement.

The terms of the sentence mean he can leave home daily to work, attend church, and receive medical treatment. Graham sent a syringe of a designer steroid, tetrahydrogestrinone, to the authorities, and reverse chemical engineering devised a test.

Resultant inquiries lifted the lid on the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, and led to the demise of Olympic champions Marion Jones and Tim Montgomery, both of whom were jailed, and Kelli White who was stripped of two world titles. A Jamaican relay silver medallist in 1988, Graham also faced jail, but the judge noted that he had been banned from coaching for life. He now drives a school bus in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Eight others, including Victor Conte, the founder of BALCO, pleaded guilty to various charges of perjury, and drug and money laundering.

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Chambers, meanwhile, was speaking at a doping conference in the UK. He is set for a return to UK Athletics teams after Charles van Commenee, the newly-appointed head coach, said he would be "welcome".

Chambers, the first athlete caught as a result of Graham's actions, served a two-year ban but lost a High Court action to win a place in the GB Olympic team. However, he is permitted to participate in any other event at any level.

Yet when asked if he would have carried on using performance enhancing drugs if he'd not been caught, Chambers replied: "pretty much so - more than likely", but added, "I'm glad that it happened when it happened, because I didn't know what it would have done to my health.

"I could not go on as I had to go on each day, and lie to athletes - never mind the ones that I thought were doing it too. It killed me."

The 30-year-old, who visits schools and warns children against doping, claimed he had been subjected to "constant whispers" and treated "like the devil". But his claim that athletes do not know the consequences of cheating do not ring true: "Although I knew that I could get caught, I never realised the punishment would be this harsh. We need to be educated." The penalties are well known to every international athlete.

As fastest man in Europe, he thinks he could have won a medal at 100m if he'd been allowed to go to Beijing.

"I deserved a second chance considering 400m runner Christine Ohuruogu got a second chance and she was able to become an Olympic and world champion."

But Ohuruogu didn't fail a test. She missed three, and was given an Olympic reprieve.

Chambers, however, says all those caught doping should be disciplined: "Punishment should be shared between the coaches, the team itself, and not just the athletes."

That's precisely what the world athletics authorities did to Graham. It's the kind of life sentence which many feel Chambers should be serving.