A three-month ban by world swimming body FINA on Olympic gold medallist Gary Hall for using marijuana has been upheld, the Court of Arbitration for Sport said yesterday.

A three-man CAS arbitration panel decided that FINA's anti-doping rules had enough legal basis to punish athletes for using marijuana, including cases which sprang from out-of competition testing.

Hall, who won two gold medals as part of US relay teams at the 1996 Olympics, tested positive in May last year and was banned in November.