Swimming: World swim body bans Bray

Swimming's international governing body, FINA, refuses to let Trent Bray compete overseas even though a court overturned doping charges against him.

The 27-year-old became the first New Zealand athlete to test positive for nandrolone, a banned anabolic steroid, when his sample was tested in January last year.

But Bray successfully appealed to the Court of Appeal against the Sports Drug Agency's testing procedures in December after a sample was allowed to deteriorate before being tested.

FINA told Swimming New Zealand yesterday that, despite the court ruling, it believed Bray had committed a doping offence under its rules, and suspended him for four years.

That means Bray is allowed in competitions run by Swimming NZ but not domestic or international events held by FINA.

Bray's lawyer, Peter Thorp, was stunned. "It's astonishing - the arrogance of it.

"What they are saying is that they do not care about what the courts say in New Zealand and they do not care that the sample was not protected properly."

If Bray was stopped from competing internationally, he said, an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland might be lodged.