LAUSANNE, Switzerland (AP)

Sprinter Churandy Martina made his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport yesterday to be reinstated as the Olympic 200-metres silver medallist.

Martina and his Netherland Antilles team appealed his disqualification from second place behind Usain Bolt in Beijing for running out of his lane.

The Caribbean island team argued that a United States protest against Martina was filed too late under rules set by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

Martina appeared at the day-long hearing to give evidence before arbitrator Luigi Fumagalli, along with officials from the IAAF and the U.S. Olympic Committee.

CAS said yesterday that a ruling was not expected before the end of January.

Unofficial twist

However, the 24-year-old Martina has already received the silver medal in an unofficial twist and unexpected show of generosity from Shawn Crawford, the 200 winner at the 2004 Athens Games.

In a drama that was only just beginning at the Bird's Nest stadium last August 20, defending champion Crawford crossed the line in fourth place behind Bolt's world-record run of 19.30 seconds.

Martina crossed second in 19.82, faster than the Netherland Antilles national record of 20.11 he set winning his semi-final.

Wallace Spearmon of the US finished third but ran out of his lane and was disqualified.

American team officials studied video of the race and then filed a protest against Martina for the same error.

At the official medal ceremony the silver was awarded to Crawford with another American, Walter Dix, getting the bronze.

However, the Netherlands Antilles Olympic Committee said it would launch an appeal because the IAAF jury in Beijing did not follow the governing body's own rule book. It allows for protests only within 30 minutes of a race ending, and that the US missed its deadline.