Krabbe's drug ban overruled

ATHLETICS

Katrin Krabbe, the former double world sprint champion, has won a civil court action to lift a two-year ban for doping and to be compensated for lost earnings.

A German court ruled the ban, imposed by the International Amateur Athletic Federation and due to end on 23 August, was void and that Krabbe, 25, should be paid for lost sponsorship and appearance money.

Judge Wolfgang Rabl said such a ban could only be imposed by the German athletics federation, the DLV, and not by the IAAF, the world governing body. "The IAAF has no authority to impose such a ban," he told the court in Munich.

Krabbe, banned for taking the drug clenbuterol, was not in court. The case was largely about compensation as Krabbe is unlikely to return to competition, because she is expecting her first child in the next month.

The 1991 world 100 and 200 metres champion is seeking substantial damages in her case against the German federation and the IAAF. The amount she will be awarded has yet to be decided.

The IAAF chief press spokesman, Christopher Winner, said in a statement: "We will, of course, appeal the German court decision."

The German federation followed suit and both organisations have four weeks to make their case to a higher Munich court. Winner added: "We do not believe it is the competence of civil courts to rule in federation matters, and we stand by our rules. We would hope that the newly-revived IOC [International Olympic Committee] arbitration court will encourage athletes to use an appeals route under the sports umbrella. Otherwise we risk seeing chaos reign."

The IAAF has challenged the civil court's jurisdiction to rule on the matter.