RIO DE JANEIRO. Apr 3: The Brazilian Athletics Confederation announced here on Wednesday that they had banned an athlete for four years for falsifying a time so he could compete in the Atlanta Olympics last year, reports

Joao Luiz Do Rosario, allO metres high hurdler, lied about the time he ran in the Chapel Hill meeting in North Carolina last May-

Do Rosario said he had run a time of 13.74 seconds, placing him second on the Brazilian list for that year, but his deception was discovered when the meet’s organisers refuse to confirm the time.

Roberto Gesta de Melo, president of the Brazilian Athletics Confederation, said that though the suspension was equivalent to those banned for steroids he considered the offence to be Just as serious.

He added that from now on only results forwarded by meeting organisers would be accepted and not those relayed by the coaches of the athletes.