BEN JOHNSON has ruled himself out of this year's world championships by dropping his plan to appeal to the International Amateur Athletic Federation to have his lifetime drugs ban lifted. His case was to due be heard at an IAAF council meeting in Athens this weekend, but yesterday lawyers for the disgraced Canadian sprinter removed it from the agenda.

Instead, Johnson's lawyer, Axy Leighl, hopes to use a favourable ruling by the Canadian court to further the case with the IAAF at its congress on the eve of the world championships in Athens in August. While Johnson apologised for his first positive test in 1988, after setting a world record for the 100 metres of 9.79 seconds to win the Olympic gold medal in Seoul, he claimed he was innocent after a second positive test for testosterone in 1993.

He claimed the lifetime suspension was a restraint of trade. Johnson filed a writ earlier this month against Athletics Canada and the IAAF, but the court in Brampton said on Tuesday it will not hear the case until July 21st, delaying any chance of a return to the track by two months.

The case of the Greek sprinter Haralambros Papadias, who allegedly evaded a dope test in Germany in February, will be heard in Athens. The IAAF is withholding the $50,000 dollars (£30,000) he earned for winning the world indoor 60 metres title in Paris in March until it receives a report from the Greek federation.

The situation has been further complicated by the fact that 23 members of the federation resigned earlier this month amid allegations that the Greek sports minister, Andreas Fouras, was trying to undermine their authority.