Sydney  - Five-time Olympic gold medalist Ian Thorpe has dropped his defamation case against French sports newspaper L'Equipe over claims the former Australian swimming star used performance-enhancing drugs.

Lawyer Tony O'Reilly said in a statement Monday that neither L'Equipe nor its journalist, Damien Ressiot, had turned up to court to defend the action.

"In these circumstances Ian has decided not to pursue the proceedings as he sees little point in obtaining a verdict in the absence of Mr Ressiot and the publisher of L'Equipe," the statement said.

The allegations were made in 2007, a year after Thorpe retired.

Thorpe was cleared of illegal drug use by the Australian Sports Anti-Doping Authority (ASADA). ASADA launched an investigation in 2007 after a 2006 test in which Thorpe returned a sample with elevated hormone levels.

He satisfactorily explained to ASADA why he returned abnormal hormone levels for two banned substances. World swimming body FINA also ruled there was no evidence to support claims Thorpe had used performance-enhancing drugs.

"Ian remains grateful for all the support that he received from Australians and people all over the world, as well as from the swimming fraternity and athletes from a number of other sports, who have let him know that they never doubted his integrity as an athlete," O'Reilly's statement said.  dpa