The problem surrounding the European Championship accreditation of Erik de Bruin, husband and coach of Ireland's triple Olympic gold medallist, Michelle Smith, was resolved at a meeting in Seville yesterday. De Bruin will now receive official coaching accreditation for the championships, which start tomorrow and continue until the end of the week. It will entitle him to accompany his wife, now known for the first time as Michelle de Bruin, on the pool deck and various other restricted areas around the swimming arena.

The secretary of the European Swimming Federation (LEN), Harm Beyer, had threatened sanctions against de Bruin if he did not explain the circumstances surrounding the use of false accreditation at the European Championships in Vienna two years ago. The Dutchman had used the accreditation of a Belgian official on that occasion to gain entry into the doping control area of the event.

Beyer said yesterday that he had received "a kind of apology for using false accreditation at the 1995 European Championships in Vienna."

The German magistrate went on to say: "The suspicions we had about him and how he got his accreditation in Vienna were confirmed. He admitted that he did as we suspected. He stated that he thought it was not wrong. There was a kind of apology.

"I did not insist that he fall on his knees. We agreed that he did wrong and he promised not to do it again. That's enough. The matter is settled," said Beyer.

De Bruin did not receive official accreditation in 1995 through the Irish Amateur Swimming Association (IASA) because he was serving a four-year drugs ban from the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) from his days as a top ranked discus thrower. That ban ended in July allowing the IASA to officially request for accreditation as his wife's coach.

In a different matter, Michelle de Bruin was refused late entry to the 100 metres butterfly event, having missed the 10day deadline. Beyer said that the late entry submitted had been included in the provisional starting list which had been dated August 7th, but received a day or two later.

De Bruin is expected to compete in her first event on Tuesday in the 400m individual medley. She has entered five other events, including the 200m individual medley, and the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle events as well as the 200m butterfly. She will not compete in all events and will select her races as the competition progresses.