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Sotomayor short of Sydney standards

Cuba's high jump world record holder Javier Sotomayor, back in action on Tuesday at Montauban, France, for the first time since the reduction of his two-year ban for doping, failed to clear the height required to make it to the Sydney Olympics.

Competing in a meeting in the remote town of Montauban, the Cuban had to be content with 2.28 metres, failing in his three attempts at 2.33.

Sotomayor's world record stands at 2.45 metres and the minimum height to qualify for Sydney is 2.30.

The meeting in Montauban, a town near Spain where the Cuban Olympic squad are currently training, was Sotomoayor's first outing since the IAAF reduced his two-year ban to 12 months.

Sotomoayor was originally suspended after testing positive for cocaine at the Pan-American Games in Winnpeg, Canada, last August.

The punishment was halved on humanitarian grounds by the International Amateur Athletics Federation on August 2, enabling the Cuban to compete at the Games.

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