Germany's head swimming coach Winfried Leopold has been banned from the World Championships because of his involvement in doping athletes. The decision to ban Leopold was taken by the sport's governing body FINA at a meeting in Perth yesterday. The World Championships start on Wednesday.

Last week Leopold admitted he had been involved in doping swimmers when he was a coach in the former East Germany.

"Following the declarations of Mr Winfried Leopold, published by the press and confirmed by the German Swimming Federation, the FINA Bureau withdrew his accreditation," said FINA's statement.

When Leopold arrived in Australia on Thursday he told a news conference that he had given drugs to swimmers under his care. He added that he regretted what he had done, but had no choice under the strict communist regime. There have been reports in the German media that Leopold is being investigated by prosecutors over his conduct . He is suspected of giving banned drugs to swimmers in the 1980s without explaining to them the risks they faced.

In November, Berlin prosecutors committed two doctors to trial for prescribing performance-enhancing drugs to swimmers in the old East Germany.

Dieter Binus, 58, former Dynamo Berlin club doctor and women's national team chief from 1976-80, and Bernd Pansold, 55, in charge of sports medicine in Berlin, are accused of supplying 19 teenagers at the Dynamo Berlin club with hormonal substances.

The prosecution claims all the swimmers were victims of abnormal muscular development and some of them suffered irreversible damage.