Lewis escapes doping punishment

Lewis has no case to answer, says the IAAF

Former Olympic champion Carl Lewis will face no further action from athletics' governing body after revelations he failed a drugs test in 1988.

The nine-time Olympic gold medallist has been given the all-clear by the International Association of Athletic Federations (IAAF), despite being named as one of eight athletes to test positive for banned substances in low concentration at the US Olympic trials in Indianapolis.

Lewis was one of 19 American athletes named by Dr Wade Exum, the former US Olympic Committee director for drug control, who released evidence of more than 100 positive drug tests involving US athletes from 1988 to 2000.

In all, the documents implicated 19 Olympic medallists from 1984 to 2000.

Lewis was one of three gold medallists at the 1988 Olympics who Exum said tested positive for stimulants at the 1988 trials.

But the IAAF said in a statement: "The IAAF Medical Committee felt satisfied, however, on the basis of the information received that the cases had been properly concluded by the USOC as 'negative cases' in accordance with rules and regulations in place at the time and no further action was taken.

"For this reason, the athletes concerned ... who went on to compete at the Olympic Games in Seoul were eligible to do so in accordance with IAAF Rules."

The USOC first disqualified Lewis before accepting his appeal that he had taken the stimulants inadvertently through an over-the-counter herbal remedy.