Ken Livingstone, the Mayor of London, came under intense pressure last night to withdraw his invitation to Linford Christie, a convicted drugs cheat, to be part of the Olympic torch relay in the build-up to the Beijing Games.

The Olympic world reacted with incredulity to the news that the Greater London Assembly (GLA) had asked the disgraced British sprinter, who received a two-year ban in 1999 for using steroids, to run a 250-metre leg of the relay when the Olympic flame arrives in London on April 6. Christie, 47, who is subject to a lifetime ban by the British Olympic Association (BOA), is scheduled to be one of 80 people bearing the torch in London as part of its 85,000-mile journey around the world in the run-up to Beijing’s opening ceremony on August 8.

Lord Moynihan, the BOA chairman, raised objections at a meeting last week of the Olympic board, on which he sits with Livingstone, Lord Coe, chairman of the London Olympic Organising Committee (Locog), and Tessa Jowell, the Olympics Minister.

“I made it crystal clear that no one convicted of a drugs offence and banned for life under our bylaw should run with the Olympic flame,” Moynihan said. “I could not feel more strongly on the subject. His invitation should be withdrawn.”

Hugh Robertson, the Shadow Sports Minister, called on Jowell to overturn the “utterly ill-conceived” invitation after it emerged that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has no power of veto.

“It is extraordinarily perverse of the mayor to select someone banned from the Olympic Games for drug offences to act as a standard-bearer for the London Olympic torch relay,” Robertson said. “It sends out totally the wrong message to young people about drug cheats and to the world in general about the values that will underpin London 2012.”

The IOC said it was “surprised and disappointed” to learn of the invitation. “We were not consulted and we wish we had been as we would have strongly recommended not to give an invitation to an athlete with an Olympic ban,” a spokeswoman said.

The GLA has officially named only Kelly Holmes, a double gold medal-winner in Athens, Sir Trevor McDonald, the newscaster, and the actress, Amara Khan, as torchbearers along the route from Wembley Stadium to the O2, a 2012 venue. It declined to comment further last night.

However, Christie’s agent confirmed to The Times that he had received a personal invitation last year directly from the mayor’s office. “Yes, they have invited him. If he is around, he would be delighted to accept. We will know his schedule in a couple of weeks,” Sue Barrett, of Nuff Respect, Christie’s sports management company, said.

Christie won the 1992 Olympic 100 metres title in Barcelona as well as gold medals at world, Commonwealth and European championships. More recently, he has been training young athletes, including Christian Malcolm, the 200 metres runner. He has always maintained his innocence, claiming the positive test for nandrolone was flawed.

Locog, which has joint powers to nominate relay participants with the Beijing organisers, Olympic sponsors and the GLA, was quick to distance itself from Christie’s involvement. “The invite didn’t come from us,” a spokeswoman said. The BOA added that it also played no part in extending the invitation.

Coe is in Australia but is understood to be dismayed. The double Olympic 1,500 metres champion’s views on drugs cheats have been vehemently reiterated during the recent controversy over Dwain Chambers’s selection to represent Britain at the World Indoor Championships next month.