TV adds to Modahl's campaign

The moral pressure on the International Amateur Athletic Federation to respond to Diane Modahl's successful domestic appeal against a doping ban intensifies tonight with the screening of a peak-time television documentary, writes Mike Rowbottom.

The Diane Modahl Story (BBC2, 6.25pm) details the British athlete's campaign to clear her name since she was withdrawn from the 1994 Commonwealth Games after testing positive for testosterone.

Modahl is currently stuck in limbo. The IAAF stated last month that she was eligible to run anywhere following the British Athletic Federation panel's decision to uphold her appeal in July last year. But the IAAF, which has said the appeal findings were "not acceptable", can reimpose the original four-year ban at an arbitration hearing for which no date has been set.

Since her successful appeal, Modahl has received letters from meeting promoters throughout Europe inviting her to run, but she has not felt able to respond.

The documentary, filmed in the course of the last year, includes accounts of the scientific research which helped clear Modahl in her appeal, making clear the possibility that her urine sample had undergone radical degradation through poor storage.