MONTE CARLO (AP) -- Cuban high jump champion Javier Sotomayor was cleared Wednesday to compete in the Olympics when track and field's ruling body cut his suspension for cocaine use from two years to one.

 The International Amateur Athletic Federation, in an extraordinary meeting to handle pending drug cases, also opened the door for former Olympic 5,000-metre champion Dieter Baumann of Germany to compete in Sydney.

 The 32 year-old Sotomayor, a two-time world champion, the world record-holder and the '92 Olympic champion, was stripped of his gold medal in the high jump at last year's Pan American Games in Winnipeg after testing positive for cocaine.

 Five weeks ago, a three-person IAAF arbitration panel overturned a ruling by the Cuban Athletics Federation that allowed him to continue competing domestically and in other non-sanctioned meets.

 The IAAF had suspended him from all competition until July 31, 2001, but cited "exceptional circumstances" for the move, pointing to his previously clean drug record and humanitarian work.

 While his trainer in Havana was thrilled that Sotomayor can now compete in Sydney, he was unhappy that Sotomayor was not declared innocent of cocaine use.

 The decision "assumes that he had consumed that disgusting substance," his trainer, Guillermo de la Torre, told The Associated Press in an interview at the Latinoamericano Stadium where Sotomayor was scheduled to train later in the afternoon.

 Still, "we are very happy" that Sotomayor will be able to compete, said De la Torre, who predicted the Cuban high jump champion would once again win the gold medal.

 Although Sotomayor has not competed for a year, he has continued to train and is currently capable of jumping 2.35 metres, De la Torre said. Sotomayor jumped 2.3 metres over the weekend during an exhibition track event in Havana.

 Sotomayor has denied using drugs, and Cuban President Fidel Castro and the country's athletics federation claimed his urine samples had been manipulated.

 "Exceptional circumstances take into account the career of Sotomayor, the fact that during 15 years he underwent 300 doping tests, all negative," said IAAF spokesman Giorgio Reineri.

 "There were also his acts as a member of the IAAF athletic commission, many humanitarian considerations and the fact this is his last Olympics."

 The council also agreed to send Baumann's case to arbitration but declined to suspend him, meaning he can compete pending the outcome of the hearing. No date was set.

 Reineri said the council "strongly urged" the arbitration be held before the Olympics, although a source close to the world body said that "was unlikely."

 Baumann, the '92 Olympic 5,000-metre champion, was banned for two years for a positive test last fall for the anabolic steroid nandrolone. He was cleared two weeks ago by the German federation's legal panel, which ruled there had been irregularities in the collection, storage and transport of his urine samples.

 Baumann has insisted he was innocent, saying he had been the target of a plot when traces of nandrolone were found in a toothpaste tube he supposedly used.

 The council also agreed to send the case of Hungarian 400-metre hurdler Judit Szekeres to arbitration.

 "All reasonable effort will be made to ensure that both cases will be considered at the beginning of September," the IAAF said in a statement.

 The IAAF also set Aug. 14 to hear the positive doping cases of banned British athletes Linford Christie, Doug Walker and Gary Cadogan.

 The three Britons were cleared by UK Athletics, the national governing body, after testing positive for nandrolone. However, they were later banned by the IAAF pending arbitration.

 The arbitration for the three is somewhat meaningless.

 Former world and Olympic champion Christie has retired. Walker, the European 200-metre champion, said this week he would skip the British trials because he's not ready for the Olympics. Cadogan, a 400-metre hurdler, has retired.