Greek pair cleared in Olympic drug case

Published on Saturday 19 March 2005 01:19

GREEK coach Christos Tzekos took the blame last night for the drugs scandal which engulfed the Olympic Games as his star athletes Kostas Kenteris and Katerina Thanou were cleared.

Tzekos was banned from coaching for four years by the Greek Athletics Federation - SEGAS - who said that he caused the pair to miss their tests.

The decision to clear Kenteris and Thanou of wrongdoing will be scrutinised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), who can either pass it or appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in an effort to have both sprinters banned.

A lengthy legal case lasting more than two months was brought to an end in Athens when SEGAS announced Kenteris and Thanou were, in their eyes, innocent parties in the controversy.

The IAAF will have the documentation translated from Greek into English before poring over the details.

Considering the organisation described explanations from the pair and their former coach Tzekos as to why they missed the tests on the eve of the Games as "unacceptable", the possibility of taking the case to CAS seems very real.

IAAF media director Nick Davies admitted the world governing body had been taken aback by the announcement from Athens.

"We were very surprised," said Davies. "Now we will wait to receive the case documentation.

"Our doping review board will then study it and we will either accept or reject the finding.

"If we do not agree the case will be sent to the Court of Arbitration for Sport."

Both athletes were provisionally suspended by the IAAF in December but will seek to have that lifted now, enabling them to compete again this year.

Kenteris, 31, and 30-year-old Thanou were caught up in a storm of controversy when it was claimed they had deliberately evaded drugs testers.

Kenteris, a gold medallist in the 200metres at the Sydney Games in 2000, and

Thanou, a 100m silver medallist in Sydney, were both expected to challenge for Olympic medals.

The pair left the Olympic village the day before the opening ceremony, flouting the rules by failing to leave details of their whereabouts.

When they were traced and told to return they asked for more time to make it back. Events then took a further twist when they were involved in a mysterious motorbike accident.

A criminal probe was then launched and the pair charged with avoiding a drugs test and faking a motorcycle accident. They have not yet been tried, with the criminal case expected to be heard later this year.