GERMAN athletics chiefs plan to warn all their athletes to stop drinking tea and coffee around competitions to avoid the risk of being banned for doping.

After studying the case of a minor athlete who failed a drug test for the stimulant caffeine after drinking just two cups of coffee, the German athletics federation (DLV) said yesterday that it had revised its recommendations.

"No tea or coffee should be drunk at all from before the start of a competition to the time when an athlete provides urine for a doping sample," the DLV said.

At first glance the new recommendations may seem ridiculously strict, since coffee and tea are a far cry from the performance-enhancing steroids and human growth hormones which some athletes use to cheat their way to glory.

But caffeine belongs to a grey area of sports medicine and German sport has struggled with controversial cases in the past, notably one involving former world swimming champion Sylvia Gernsch who was banned for two years after a positive test.

DLV doping expert Theo Rous said the decision to change the advice to athletes was made after the federation studied the case of long jumper Astrid Mannes who tested positive for caffeine at a minor German meeting last year.

Mannes claimed she drank only two cups of coffee before the event. Medical checks on the athlete, who is particularly light in weight, showed that high levels of caffeine could appear in her urine after a small intake of coffee.

"Repeated experiments showed that Astrid Mannes would go over the IAAF limit after just two cups of coffee," Rous said. "The DLV has concluded that Astrid Mannes did not try to take a substance to boost her performance and regrets that the impression was given that she was a doping offender."