Olympic Newsdesk: Thanou IOC Ethics Complaint; Olympians Linked to Canadian Doctor

Thanou Files Ethics Complaint

The IOC confirms that Greek sprinter Katerina Thanou has sent a letter to the IOC Ethics Commission challenging the Executive Board decision to deny her the gold medal from the 100m in Sydney. Last week the EB reallocated the medals forfeited by Marion Jones in Sydney and elected not award a gold medal in the race won by Jones; Thanou was the silver medalist.

IOC Communications chief Mark Adams says the letter from Thanou is in the hands of the Ethics Commission but that no other comment can be made.

According to the website HellenicAthleties.com, the letter prepared by Thanou’s legal team raises ten allegations, including “discrimination, abuse of power and a violation of human rights”.

While Thanou competed in Sydney without a positive drug test (as did Jones), four years later she found herself deep in controversy for missing drug tests ahead of the Athens Games. She and her training partner Costas Kenteris, the men’s 200m champion in Sydney, are charged with faking a motorcycle crash as part of their ruse for missing a drugs test on the eve of the 2004 Games. The controversy cost Kenteris the chance to light the Olympic caldron in Athens and both he and Thanou surrendered their accreditation for the Games in the face of near certain expulsion by the IOC. Thanou appealed to the IOC for permission to compete in Athens, but was refused.

Doctor Linked to Olympians

Two Olympians are mentioned in a New York Times report about a Canadian sports medicine expert facing possible charges of advertising and selling unapproved drugs. The Times reports that Dr. Anthony Galea is also under investigation by the FBI.

Galea was arrested in October and faces a hearing in a Toronto court this week.

The case grew out of an inspection in September at a U.S. Canada border crossing. An assistant to Galea was carrying a medical bag alleged to contain human growth hormone and Actovegin, a drug extracted from calf’s blood. Actovegin is an illegal drug in the U.S.

Galea is known for his treatment of elite athletes, such as Tiger Woods and NFL players using a procedure called platelet-rich plasma therapy. The treatment is said to accelerate the healing of injuries.

The New York Times says Olympians Donovan Bailey and Dara Torres have received treatment from Galea.

Torres praises the care she received from Galea, telling the newspaper he was able to find a muscle tear that had gone undetected in her knee and that she received chiropractic treatment to fix the problem.

Galea says the HGH found in his bag was for his personal use. Actovegin is not approved for sale in Canada but is not on the banned substances list of the World Anti-Doping Agency. Described as “strained and purified calf’s blood”, Actovegin is believed by some athletes to accelerate healing. Some experts say the drug has only a placebo effect.

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency is said to be closely watching Actovegin and has asked WADA to place the drug on the prohibited substances list.

AT&T Sponsorship for USOC

Reported first by Around the Rings on Oct. 26, the U.S. Olympic Committee publicly mentioned Monday that telecommunications firm AT&T has renewed its sponsorship of the U.S. team for another four years. Details of the sponsorship were not released but the amount is believed to be near $20 million.

To subscribe to Around the Rings Click HereWritten by Ed Hula.For general comments or questions, click here