turned into a nightmare yesterday after he was disqualified during the second heat of the 200 metres event.

A Swedish official ruled that the Bermuda athlete ran out of his lane during the race, although a videotape was unable to show conclusively that Douglas had done so.

Bermuda Track and Field Association president Stan Douglas immediately lodged a protest and appeared at an appeals tribunal about an hour after the ruling came down.

Both the athlete and the BTFA executive expected to see the decision overturned since it could not be proven that Douglas had veered out of his lane.

But the seven-member race jury, chaired by IAAF president Primo Nebiolo, rejected it unanimously and sided with the judge's original call, casting a pall over the Bermuda delegation.

Douglas clocked 20.60 seconds in the heat and would have finished second behind Michael Johnson of the United States, who was timed 20.57. In third place was Jean-Charles Trouabal of France in 20.66 seconds.

The Bermudian was so powerful in the heat that it looked as if he was headed for a berth in today's semi-finals and finals.

"I was robbed,'' declared an emotional Douglas in a telephone interview yesterday. "I'm not in the best of moods right now. I'm just mad. It was an excellent run and making the finals would have been easy. It would have been real easy. But I gave them a piece of my mind. I don't know what that will do, but I have nothing to lose.'' Douglas said he told the judges that "I was from the wrong country. We're too sweet like the Island we come from.

"I can stay in my lane with my eyes closed. If you look at the film it's just stupidity on their behalf. What justice is there for the athlete?'' Douglas wasn't the only athlete locked in controversy on the sixth and most tumultuous day of the championships.

Gwen Torrence of the US was also disqualified from the women's 200 metres after winning the race when she was also judged to have run out of her lane.

The Americans appealed the ruling, but it was also turned down and Torrence lost the gold (see page 17).

Douglas was informed of his own decision by team-mate Brian Wellman, his room-mate in the athletes' village. "I just cried,'' said Douglas, whose personal best in the 200 metres is 20.43. "I knew I had a definite chance of upsetting people here, I really did.

"This is the lowest moment of my athletics career,'' he said later. "There would have been two boxes of medals for Bermuda. I'm so low. Now I'll just go back home and get ready for next year.'' There had been euphoria in the Bermuda camp with high hopes for Douglas ever since Wellman captured the silver medal in the triple jump on Monday.

Said Wellman yesterday: "I can't believe they didn't give the athlete the benfit of the doubt.'' Douglas said he got off to a slow start in the race "but I didn't panic because it was qualifying. I ran the last 150 metres composed and I enjoyed it.'' Stan Douglas, who witnessed the race at the stadium, noted that Douglas was in last place on the bend but gathered steam in the straightaway. "He suddenly had enormous speed. But I waited for the call because my experience in this game is that you don't leave until you know the result.

"I've been trying to release some stress ever since.'' The BTFA president was still agitated several hours after the ruling.

"A Canadian technical official said in cases where there was some doubt they would go with the officials,'' he said.

"I told him that Bermuda is a country that invests a lot of money in a few athletes and I told him `you're telling me you have no proof and yet you're still going to do this?' He said `that's the way it is'.'' Stan Douglas then said "I had to get away from there. The official could not justify the call through the film.'' Douglas was also disqualified for allegedly leaving his lane during last year's Commonwealth Games but won his appeal.

"We both were a lot calmer this time,'' said Stan Douglas, who also represented the Bermuda athlete in Victoria, Canada. "In fact I didn't hesitate to pay the $100 to lodge the protest. It was obvious to us that we would have been vindicated and I told him to go and warm down while I followed the procedures to the next level.'' Later he said: "I showed the judge continuously that we did not see Troy go over the line. But I'm telling you there are a lot of people in this world who don't like to go back and say they were wrong. Even talking about this now I'm getting irritated. I'm telling you, I'm going to stay away from officials for the next few hours.

"Both Brian and Troy had stayed away from meets this year just to focus on their training for this. To be called out that way put me right on the edge.'' Troy Douglas was planning to watch today's 200 finals with plans to leave Sweden tomorrow. "I'll be okay,'' he said. "Tell everyone not to panic, I'm still alive.'' TROY DOUGLAS -- was disqualified after a judge ruled that he left his lane. He later lost his appeal.