Baumann ruled out as Ottey returns

Track and Field, which begins on Friday, is already causing ripples in the Olympic village. The IAAF have confirmed that German middle-distance runner Dieter Baumann will be banned until January 2002 following a positive drug test. The German federation had previously allowed him to continue running. The decision contrasts strongly with the fortunes of another positive athlete, Merlene Ottey, who will compete in her sixth Olympic Games at the age of 40.

Ottey was selected to run the 100 metres at the expense of Jamaica's national champion Peta-Gay Dowdie despite a threatened boycott by the Jamaican team if she was chosen. Jamaican National Olympic Committee vice-president Donald Anderson said calm had been restored to the Jamaican athletics camp and Ottey would run the sprint.

Such was the febrile atmosphere within the camp that 25 of the athletes - half the team - yesterday marched in protest in the athletes village, holding banners saying "Merlene out, Peta in, Relays out". Ottey tested positive for nandrolone and served a one-year ban, although the Swiss laboratory which handled her sample was judged to have tested it improperly.