Brussels, Belgium (AP) - Belgian triathlete Rutger Beke is suing the World Anti-Doping Agency and two drug labs, seeking 185,000 euros ($221,000) in damages after his 18-month doping suspension was lifted due to doubts over the accuracy of his EPO test.

Beke's lawyer, Johnny Maeschalck, said in a telephone interview on Wednesday that the athlete had sought an amicable settlement with WADA.

"We received a negative answer from WADA," Maeschalck said. "We had at least hoped to be able to discuss the issue but we were rejected."

Beke, the 2003 Ironman runnerup, won an appeal in August against his suspension, arguing that a positive test for the endurance drug EPO was inaccurate.

He finished fourth in the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii at the weekend.Apart from the Montreal-based WADA, Beke is also suing doping labs in Ghent, Belgium, and Cologne, Germany, to a Belgian court. The first hearing in the case is slated for February 27, 2006.

A Belgian regional disciplinary board agreed that Beke's EPO tests did not provide sufficient proof of guilt and overturned the March 4 suspension. That ruling has not been appealed.

Beke, then-Belgian national triathlon champion, tested positive in two of seven EPO tests during competition in Belgium last year.

He finished second in the Ironman triathlon in Hawaii in 2003 and was fifth last year.

Since his return, Beke has also won Monaco's half-Ironman.