World swimming's governing body, FINA, yesterday banned a top official from the Hungarian association, Joszef Ruza, for two years over a phantom" meeting.

The move followed allegations last month that half the team from Hungary, one of the world's top swimming nations, went to the Atlanta Olympics based on a qualifying competition that never took place.

Tanias Gyarfas, president of the Hungarian association who resigned over the affair but was later re-elected, has denounced the fraud as an "inadmissible, grave mistake."