Greek Olympians Wait for Verdicts

(ATR) Claiming new evidence will clear her name, Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou waits for word along with fellow Olympian Costas Kenteris on a possible two-year suspension for missing drug tests. A decision could come by the end of February.

Thanou and Kenteris both testified at a hearing this weekend held by SEGAS, the Greek Athletics Federation, which will decide whether the two should be sanctioned.

The sprinters resigned from the Greek team for the Athens Olympics rather than face expulsion by the IOC over charges they failed to appear for a drug test in the Olympic Village the day before opening ceremony last August.

Kenteris, defending gold medalist in the 200 meters, and Thanou, silver medalist in the 100 meters in Sydney, were two of Greeceâ??s top medal hopes until the drug test controversy erupted.

Since then, the IAAF has ruled that the two sprinters, training partners, had missed three attempts at testing in advance of the Games and asked the Greek federation to render a two-year suspension.

The athletes said they were not informed that they were being sought for testing in the Olympic Village before leaving to retrieve personal items. They were supposedly injured in a motorcycle crash as they sped back to the Olympic Village, but a Greek court has ruled the accident was a fake. Kenteris and Thanou both face sentencing on those charges, which are misdemeanors.

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