Hungary's Olympic committee will not accredit the head of the country's athletics team for the 2008 Olympics unless two athletes convicted of doping settle legal costs, the federation said yesterday.

Adrian Annus (hammer) and Robert Fazekas (discus) won gold at the 2004 Games but were disqualified for doping and still owe 3.7 million forints ($21,260) to the International Olympic Committee for legal costs stemming from a suit over the disqualifications.

The IOC has asked its Hungarian committee to recover the money, which in turn upped pressure on the athletics federation's head.

"There's just no way for us to get this money back," Gusztav Rabold, chairman of the Hungarian Athletics Association, said.

"We're not in a contractual relationship with the athletes, they're not receiving financial support and they're not on the national squad."

Rabold added that they has suspended the competition rights of Annus and Fazekas but could do little else.

Annus and Fazekas returned to competition in 2007 after serving a two-year ban but made little impact.