Drug date fixed for Christie

High-jump world record-holder Javier Sotomayor of Cuba, suspended after testing positive for cocaine at last year's Pan American Games, will have his case heard April 7-8 by an IAAF arbitration panel.

The International Amateur Athletic Federatation has also set July 6-9 as the hearing date for former Olympic 100-metre champion Linford Christie, 39, who was suspended after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone.

Two other Britons also facing nandrolone charges will have their cases heard on the same date: European 200-metre champion Doug Walker and hurdler Gary Cadogan.

All four could face two-year bans.

Jamaican sprinter Merlene Ottey, another high profile athlete suspended by the IAAF after testing positive for nandrolone, has not had a hearing date set, IAAF spokesman Giorgio Reineri said.

Sotomayor, 32, was stripped of his gold medal after testing positive for cocaine in July at the Pan Am Games in Canada. Backed by Cuban leader Fidel Castro, the country's track federation refused to suspend Sotomayor and suggested he had been set up.

Last month, Sotomayor was scheduled to compete at in indoor meet in Greece. But he was dropped from the competition after the IAAF, closing a loophole that allowed athletes to compete while their doping cases were unresolved, suspended him pending the arbitration hearing.

The three Britons were cleared by UK Athletics - Britain's track and field governing - but the decision was overturned last month by the IAAF, which sent the case to arbitration. Christie has retired from competition, but Walker and Cadogan still hope to compete in this year's Summer Olympics in Sydney.