Brussels, 13/08/2002 (Agence Europe) - The Commission has rejected a complaint lodged by two swimmers suspended for four years, on 8 August 1999, by the Doping Committee of the Fédération internationale de natation amateur (FINA, international amateur swimming federation) on the basis of tests revealing the presence of banned substances beyond the permitted threshold. The pair, who had placed first and second in the Marathon Swimming World Cup on 31 January 1999 in Brazil, maintained that the IOC and FINA rules on the definition of doping (and in particular on the threshold for defining the presence of a banned substance in the body as doping) restrict competition and unjustifiably limit the freedom of swimmers to provide services. The Commission ruled that the complaint did not contain sufficient details and that the CIO and FINA anti-doping rules did not represent a restriction of competition. Mario Monti, Commissioner for competition, commented that "rules drawn up by sporting organisations to ensure in a proportionate manner the integrity of sporting events by providing for effective control of doping fall outside the scope of Community competition rules". The two swimmers have two months to challenge the Commission's analysis.